Inner Peace

03
Nov
2017
A Thematic Tafseer of Surah Kahf

A Thematic Tafseer of Surah Kahf

A Thematic Tafseer of Surah Kahf

Surah Kahf begins by laying down the fundamental theme of the Surah. The opening verses praises Allah for revealing the Qur’an as a means of guidance for mankind, and a warning to those who persist in disbelief.

The Messenger (peace be upon him) is then told not to grief too much over those who persist in disbelief. As they are responsible for their own choices, and he has done his job to the best of his ability.

The core theme of Surah Kahf is then summarized in verses seven and eight. In which Allah say, “Definitely, I have made whatever on earth beautiful, to test which of them are best in their deeds.

Then I will make whatever is on it dry bare soil.” This is the essence of the message of Surah Kahf. The world was created to test us and everything in it is a test and will eventually come to an end. So do not be fooled by the beauty of this worldly life.

The Seven Sleepers

After mentioning this theme, Allah then goes directly into the first story. Which is told first in summary then in details. The purpose of this could have been to get the attention of the disbelievers of Makkah. So that they listen to the full detailed story and derive lessons from it.

The story is about seven young men who were the only believers in their city. Fearing persecution, they fled to a cave and asked Allah for assistance. Allah answers their dua by putting them to sleep for three centuries, and preserving their youth and health through this time in miraculous ways.

Upon awakening, the youth are discovered by the people of that century. They serve as a reminder of the reality of resurrection for them. The young men pass away in a way not mentioned in the Qur’an. The people dispute over what to do with their graves. Unfortunately, the prevailing opinion was to build a Masjid over their graves. This has been misunderstood by some Muslims as permission in the Qur’an to build Masjids over graves of righteous people.

Reality, however, is that the Qur’an does not justify the actions of these unknown people. There are many Hadiths that prohibit building Masjids over graves. So the actions of these unknown people cannot be taken as evidence in light of clear Hadith.

Lessons from this story

The next set of verses then highlight a few lessons from this story. Like the importance of saying Inshaa Allah when planning for the future. The importance of good company, the dangers of evil company and the importance of focusing only on beneficial knowledge are all lessons from this story.

It is rounded off with a reminder of the theme of the Surah. We will be accountable to Allah for our choices on the Last Day. The believers will be rewarded with Paradise while the disbelievers will face punishment in the Hellfire.

The Parable of the Farmer

The Surah then moves on to the second story about two men. One who was wealthy and the other was less fortunate. I am of the opinion that this story is a parable, and not necessarily a true story, and Allah knows best.

This is the only story in this Surah that begins with the words “Give them the parable of two men, whom We gave one of them two gardens.” This supports the opinion of it being a parable.

The story shows us that Allah blessed one man with abundant wealth and a successful farm. But he grew arrogant, felt entitled and was ungrateful to Allah for His blessings. His poorer friend reminded him to be grateful to Allah. He reminded him to seek His forgiveness before Allah takes his wealth away. But the warning went with recognition.

The man eventually lost all his wealth and property and was regretful for his attitude. He had failed the test of material success, which is a test we face almost on a daily basis in this Capitalistic society. The story ends with a reminder that this world is like water, which I have explained elsewhere. As well as a reminder that our wealth and children are merely a test for us, so they should not distract from the purpose of life.

Adam and Shaytaan

This story is followed by a series of verses reminding us about the Last Day. In between these is a reminder of the story of Adam and Shaytaan. A reminder that it is Shaytaan who wants us to fail the test of life. So never forget who your enemy is.

This set of verses ends with a reminder that every person and every nation has an appointed time, before which they need to repent. Once that appointed time comes, Allah’s punishment descends and it is too late to change.

Prophet Musa’s Adventure

This is followed by the third story. Which begins with Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) and his young servant Yusha (peace be upon him) embarking on a long journey to seek knowledge from a righteous stranger. We know from an authentic Hadith that this journey was initiated because Musa learned that there is a man who knows things which he does not know. So with great zeal for knowledge and humility, this leader of his nation set off to meet and learn from this stranger.

Musa treats his servant with utmost respect and serves as a role model for employers. After some setbacks, the two of them eventually encounter Al-Khidr, the mysterious Prophet who they wish to learn from.

Al-Khidr agrees to allow Musa to accompany him on the condition that he does not ask any questions until Al-Khidr is ready to explain his actions. This condition proves too difficult for Musa to fulfill as he witnesses strange and seemingly wrong actions on the part of Al-Khidr.

Al-Khidr damages a boat of some poor sailors who gave them a free ride. Then he kills a random young boy. Finally, he fixes a wall in a town full of impolite people without asking for anything in return.

Khidr’s Explanation

Musa is baffled by the actions of Al-Khidr and had to ask about the reasons behind them. Al-Khidr explained that everything he did was based on direct revelation from Allah. The poor sailors were about to have their boat usurped by a tyrant king. So Allah protected their boat by having it damaged.

The young boy was not random. Rather Allah knew he was going to grow up to be a tyrant and cause great grief to his righteous parents. So to protect them Allah took their child’s life at a young age. The wall hid a treasure which a righteous man left behind for his orphaned children.

Had the wall collapsed, the townsfolk would have usurped the wealth of the orphans so Allah protected their wealth by revealing to Al-Khidr to fix the wall.

This story is very deep and in it, we learn about the mysterious ways in which Allah works. Very often the seeming tragedies in our lives are actually Allah’s way of protecting us from greater harm. So we must trust His Wisdom and be patience during difficult times.

The Great Conqueror

This story is immediately followed by the story of Dhul Qarnayn. Who conquered the East and West and ruled with justice. He did this by letting the good people and the simple people live in peace. While punishing the criminals and imprisoning the evil Gog and Magog tribes. A good leader is merciful to his citizens while strict in dealing with the harmful elements of society. Dhul Qarnayn is an excellent example of this.

This story transients into a warning that Gog and Magog will be unleashed before the Last Day. Then they will be thrown into Hellfire.

Conclusion

The Surah ends as it began. By reminding us that those who fail the test of life will enter the Hellfire. Those who pass will be blessed with Paradise. And reminding us that it is only true faith and righteous deeds that can benefit us on that day.

This in summary is Surah Kahf. A weekly warning about the tests of life, with role models on how to deal with such tests. A reminder of the consequences of failing that test, and the rewards for passing it.

In the next chapter, we will reflect deeper on individual verses and stories from this Surah. We ask Allah to protect us from the trials of life and make us from those who are successful in both worlds.

For more thematic Tafseer, get your copy of Themes of the Quran today.

Themes of Surah Kahf

Click the image to purchase the ebook

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Inner Peace
10
Oct
2017

What to do when the sins of teachers affects your faith

What to do when the sins of teachers affects your faith

Note: Despite the timing, this article is NOT about the latest scandal. Rather it is advice that applies in all situations were the sins of teachers affect your faith. I only wrote this because I read comments on social media from good people about how recent scandals have affected their faith.

The sins of teachers and the hearts of students

As humans, we all look up to someone or the other.

In our spiritual journeys, we tend to latch onto the people who were most instrumental in bringing us closer to Allah. Sometimes we latch on too closely and stop treating them as human.

We build an ideal image of them in our minds, and when they fail to live up to that image, our faith in the religion itself is often shaken.

This is not a new and unique scenario. It happens all the time across multiple religions. We know that a large portion of Christians left Christianity because of the sins of priests. Likewise, I have met many Muslims who have suffered crises of faith due to the sins of teachers and heroes.

Whenever the private sins of teachers are made public, or discovered by a student, we witness the following reactions:

“This is why all scholars are not trustworthy!”

“I will leave Islam if this is true!”

“How can I be sincere if my teachers are not!”

and so on, and so forth.

While these reactions are understandable. They are also quite extreme and easily avoidable.

I too have dealt with such people

You see, I too deal with cases that shake my faith, more often that I wish.

I have been a full-time student of Islamic knowledge since the age of thirteen.

Since then, over the past eighteen years, I was dealt with teachers who were frauds, egomaniacs, vulgar, violent (Edit: I initially had a very long list here of every sin and crime I had seen scholars and duaat commit. I decided to delete the list as it was too long, detailed and depressing for most people to handle).

So why am I still Muslim and still dedicated to Dawah and teaching Islam?

Because my faith is not attached to these people.

My faith is based on my conviction that the Quran is the word of Allah and Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final messenger of truth. There is no sin that a person can commit today that can shake my faith is these two fundamentals.

But it wasn’t always like this.

The first time I was mistreated by an Islamic teacher, it shook my faith.

I was only thirteen years old, when my great grandmother passed away. I missed a day of class because I had to attend her funeral.

My teacher (a highly respected scholar in my community) punished and humiliated me the next day in front of the entire class. My crime: skipping class to attend a funeral.

That was the first time I doubted my faith. My young heart wondered what kind of religion would produce such a hard and cruel-hearted man.

It was only years later that I would realize that the religion didn’t make him cruel. It was him who made the religion seem cruel.

Since then, I have had too many incidents to list and eventually became immune to the sins of teachers.

So what can you do?

My story and experiences aside, the purpose of this post is not to make you feel hopeless and despondent.

It is to lift your spirits and strengthen your faith.

Over the years, I have developed a series of steps that has prevented me from having my faith shaken by scandals and revealed secrets. I want to share these steps with you so you can implement them too.

Here is what you can do:

Have a balanced view of your teacher

Love your teacher. Respect your teacher. Give your teacher the benefit of the doubt.

But do not elevate him/her to the level of sainthood. Do not expect him to be sinless and perfect.

Every single human being, religious scholars included, are being tested every day. Sometimes we pass, sometimes we fail. Just like you have your secret sins, so do your teachers. They too have at times failed to pass a test, and fallen into fitna. But just as often, they have repented and grown stronger in their faith through repentance.

So treat your teachers with respect, but do not expect perfection from them.

Rather ask Allah to forgive and conceal their sins and accept their Dawah.

Do not pry into their private matters or look for fault in them. Focus on benefiting from their knowledge, while keeping in mind that they are human.

Base your faith on scripture, not people

If your faith is dependent on a specific charismatic teacher, then your faith is built on shaky grounds.

Rather your foundation should be your relationship with Allah.

Make time daily to connect with Allah through Salah, Quran, Dhikr, reflection and Istighfaar.

Build a direct relationship with Allah through His Revelation and let that be the basis of your faith. If your faith is based on Allah and His Revelation, then the sins of man cannot shake it.

For private and personal sins, forgive and overlook

Every single teacher has personal sins. Everybody is struggling to obey Allah.

So if you discover a personal sin of a teacher, ask Allah to forgive him and overlook it. He is struggling, just like you are.

Personal sins refer to sins that do not affect the public or the Dawah. Examples include a teacher being addicted to smoking or vulgar music, or a teacher who fails to lower his gaze at times, or struggles with Fajr Salah. These are personal and private sins, and do not reflect his intentions or sincerity.

These sins should not make you look down upon the teacher. Rather conceal their faults, forgive, and overlook.

When the Dawah is affected, run away

There are three main wrong intentions why some men get involved in Dawah: money, fame and women.

Most Islamic teachers are sincere and dedicated to Allah.

Yet there do exist some teachers who use the religion to gain access to fame, money or women, and in some extreme cases: all three.

As we cannot see the hearts of people, it is very hard to know the intentions of teachers.

So what should we do?

We should assume a teacher is sincere unless Allah exposes otherwise.

I believe a hypocrite cannot abuse the religion forever. Eventually he will be exposed and his intentions made public. So do not worry about your teacher’s intentions unless their actions indicate otherwise.

Focus on having good thoughts about your teachers. Ask Allah to grant you access to teachers who are righteous, sincere and authentic. And Focus on benefiting from their knowledge.

But if it is made clear to you that a certain teacher is a fraud. If it becomes very clear that an individual is using the Deen solely as a business, means to fame or access to women (or all three)…Then to protect your faith, take your knowledge from someone else, whom you do not have these doubts about.

Final Advice

There is a fine line between having Husn Dhann (good thoughts) about our teachers, and making sure we only take knowledge from sincere students of knowledge.

The key is to make dua. Over the years, I have found that dua always revealed the truth to me.

Whenever I was doubtful about a teacher, sect, school of thought, specific institute or da’ee, I made dua for clarity and guidance.

I believe it was because of this dua that I have witnessed terrible hypocritical teachers whom I learned to stay away from. And also because of this dua that I have been blessed with sincere righteous teachers whom I benefit from.

Simply put: when in doubt, make dua, and Allah will guide your heart to the truth.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Inner Peace
21
Aug
2017

25 Beautiful Hadiths about Good Manners

Good Manners Hadiths

25 Beautiful Hadiths about Good Manners

Good Manners (Adab) are a fundamental part of our faith. Outside of Aqeedah and Fiqh, Adab is one of the most important parts of Islam to study.

In fact, entire books of Hadith revolve around manners and character. Two of the best of examples of this are Riyadh As-Saliheen by Imam Nawawi, and Adab Al-Mufrad by Imam Al-Bukhari.

As a reminder to myself and yourself, here are 25 of my favorite hadiths related to good manners.

Hadiths related to the virtues of good manners

  1. The messenger (peace be upon him) said, “Nothing is heavier on the Scale of Deeds than one’s good manners.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
  2. “The most beloved of Allah’s slaves to Allah are those with the best manners.” (At-Tabrani)
  3. “A person may attain through good manners the same level of virtue as those who spend their nights in prayer.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
  4. ‘The best among you in Islam are those with the best manners,” (Saheeh Bukhari)
  5. When asked about the definition of righteousness, the Prophet (peace be upon him) replied, “Righteousness is good character,” (Saheeh Bukhari)

Hadiths about the most important manners

  1. “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good things or remain silent.” (Saheeh Muslim)
  2. “Verily, from the perfection of Islam is that a person leaves what does not concern him.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhi)
  3. “Do not lose your temper.” *repeated three times as advice (Saheeh Bukhari)
  4. “None of you will have faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” (Saheeh Bukhari)
  5. “He who does not show mercy to our young ones or show respect for our elders is not one of us.” (Saheeh Bukhari)

Hadiths about manners towards parents

  1. Abdullah Ibn Masood (RA) said, “I asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) which action Allah loves best. He replied, ‘Prayer at its proper time.’ I asked, ‘Then what?’  He said, ‘Then kindness to parents.” (Adab Al-Mufrad)
  2. Abu Hurayra (RA) said, “The Prophet (peace be upon him) was asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, to whom should I be dutiful?’ ‘Your mother,’ he replied. He was asked, ‘Then whom?’ ‘Your mother,’ he replied. He was asked, ‘Then whom?’ ‘Your mother,’ he replied. He was asked, ‘Then whom?’ He replied, ‘Your father.'”
    (Adab Al-Mufrad)
  3. “Allah curses anyone who curses his parents.” (Adab Al-Mufrad)
  4. “From among the major sins is for a man to despise his own father,” (Adab Al-Mufrad)
  5. A man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) wanting to join him on Jihad. He has two elderly parents. The Prophet (peace be upon him) told him, “Your striving is in serving them,” (Adab Al-Mufrad)

Hadiths about mercy

  1. “Allah will not show mercy to a person who does not show mercy to other people.” (Adab Al-Mufrad)
  2. “Show mercy and you will be shown mercy. Forgive and Allah will forgive you.” (Adab Al-Mufrad)
  3. “Those who are merciful will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhi)
  4. “Spread peace between yourselves. By the one in whose hand is my soul, you will not enter Paradise until you are merciful.” (Al-Mustadrak)
  5. Anas Ibn Malik (RA) said, “The Prophet (peace be upon him) was merciful and no one would come to him in need except that he would promise to help him or he would give him something.” (Adab Al-Mufrad)

General hadiths about good manners

  1. “Modesty only causes good,” (Saheeh Bukhari)
  2. “A good word is charity,” (Saheeh Bukhari)
  3. “The believer does not curse/use vulgar language,” (Tirmidhi)
  4. “Whoever desires more wealth and a long life should maintain family ties.” (Saheeh Bukhari)
  5. “Do not envy one another, and do not inflate prices for one another, and do not hate one another, and do not turn away from one another, and do not undercut one another in trade, but be slaves of Allah and brothers. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor does he fail him, nor does he lie to him, nor does he hold him in contempt. Taqwa (piety) is right here [and he pointed to his chest three times]. It is evil enough for a man to hold his brother Muslim in contempt. The whole of a Muslim is inviolable for another Muslim: his blood, his property, and his honour.” (Saheeh Muslim)

Final Reminder

These hadiths should serve as a strong reminder to each of us to treat each other well. Whether it be our parents, spouse, children, neighbors, or even strangers, we should treat each person with the best of manners.

Good character is one of the paths to Paradise in Islam. This does not mean that a person who has good character will entire Paradise is they ignore the obligations of Islam. Rather, someone who fulfills their obligations to Allah and treats people well is on the path to Paradise.

May Allah make use from among the people of manners and Paradise.

 

 

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Inner Peace
19
Jul
2017

As-Salaam: Finding Peace in the Source of Peace

As Salaam Peace

The Beautiful Names

As-Salaam is one of Allah’s Asma Al-Husnaa (Beautiful Names). In a previous article, we discussed the importance of these names. In that article, I stated:

Each of these names encompass a perfect attribute of Allah. It is very important that we take the time to study, analysis and reflect on these names. Doing so will help us to understand our Creator and improve our relationship with Him.

In this article, I want to focus on one specific name of Allah: As-Salaam.

As-Salaam – The Source of Peace

One of the names of Allah mentioned in the Qur’an is As-Salaam. Which translates into English as The Source of Peace. This name is mentioned in the following verse:

He is Allah, besides Whom there is no other god; the King, the Holy, the Source of Peace (As-Salaam), the Securer, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Compeller, the Exalted. Glorified be Allah above the partners which they ascribe! (Surah Al-Hashr 59: 23)

This verse makes it clear that As-Salaam is a name of Allah. Salaam means peace and in its absolute form, it can be translated as The Source of Peace. This should formulate our understanding of who Allah is. Allah is the Source of Peace. Which means that all forms of peace, both inner and outer, come from Allah alone. So if we want peace, we have to turn to Allah.

How to experience inner peace

If any human wishes to experience peace, improving one’s relationship with Allah is the starting point. The closer someone is to Allah, the more at peace they feel internally, even if the world is falling apart around them.

When anyone distances himself from Allah through sin and disobedience, it leads to anxiety and inner turmoil, no matter how much worldly success he may have.

This means that in Islam, the only way to inner peace is through actualizing Tawheed in our lives. Not just by accepting Allah as the Creator of everything. But by striving to live a life of obedience to Him.

So many Muslims go wrong in understanding this. Many of us limit Tawheed to just a belief and forget that it has practical implications in our lives. Tawheed is not just about believing in Allah, it is about living a life that reflects that belief.

This forms the foundation of inner peace in Islam. Inner peace begins by accepting that we are servants of Allah. That we are in need of Him; and that the only path to peace is in obeying Him.

If you want to evaluate the level of peace in your heart, look at the quality of your relationship with Allah.

Learn more with our exclusive online courses, available here.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Inner Peace
25
May
2017

New Free Course: Ramadan Reminders

Ramadan Reminders

Ramadan Reminders

Islamic Self Help presents an exciting new free course: Ramadan Reminders.

In this free course, we will be publishing a new video every day in Ramadan 2017.

Each video will cover a summarized Tafseer of an important Surah of the Quran.

Join the course today to gain access to all the videos.

This course comes with the following bonuses:
#1: Free eBook – Verse of the Day Collection
#2: Links to our Ramadan Articles
#3: YouTube Ramadan Webinar Series

NOTE: This course is still in development and a new video will be released every day during the month of Ramadan!

Access the course for free here: http://courses.islamicselfhelp.com/p/ramadan-reminders

Other courses by Islamic Self Help

Islamic Self Help offers a variety of excellent courses to help you grow professionally. These include:

  1. 20 Personal Development Tips
  2. 5 Time Management Tips
  3. 8 Fundamentals of Public Speaking
  4. Self-Publishing Your Books
  5. Homeschooling For Success

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Once I have talked to my brother about my concern he gave me the link to this course. I liked it because it is by Muslim scholar and he made many points from Quran and Sunnah. This course not only gives tips about time management but also tells to prioritize things like reading and spending quality time with your family. I referred this to my brother and sister too.” – Saima Yusaf

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Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Inner Peace