A man came to Ibrahim Ibn Adham (Rahimahullah), who was one of the scholars whose words were profound cures for the heart, and said:

“I have repeatedly transgressed against myself by commiting sin; give me something that will inhibit me from continuing like this?

So Ibrahim said: “If you have the capacity to practice five things, you will never have to worry about being amongst the sinners again.” The man was athirst for this admonition so he said: “Ibrahim give me these five things!” So he said:

“Firstly: If you want to disobey Allah, then don’t eat anything from the provisions He facilitated for mankind!” The man was amazed at this comment and asked: “How can you say this Ibrahim while all of the provisions are from Allah?!” So he said: “Well if you know this, then how do you have the audacity to eat from His provision while you are disobedient Him?!!” So the man said: “No, you’re right, we shouldn’t have! Give me the second one!”

So Ibrahim said: “Secondly: If you want to disobey Allah, then don’t live in His earth!” the man was amazed at this comment, more so than he was the first comment, so he said: “How can you say that Ibrahim when all of the earth belongs to Allah?!” So Ibrahim said: “If you know this, then how do you have the audacity to live in His earth while you are disobedient to Him?! The man said: “No, you’re right, we shouldn’t have! Give me the third one!”

So Ibrahim said: “Thirdly: If you want to disobey Allah, then choose a place to disobey Him, where He can’t see you!” The man said: “How can you say this Ibrahim, when Allah knows the secrets of the heart and what is hidden! He hears the crawling of an ant on a smooth boulder in the depths of the darkness of the night!” So Ibrahim said: “Well if you know this, then how can you have the audacity to disobey Him?!” He said “No, you’re right, we shouldn’t have! Give me the fourth one!” 

So Ibrahim said: “Fourthly: If the angel of death comes to take your soul, say to him: “wait on taking my soul until a later time!”  So the man said: “How can you say this Ibrahim when Allah says:

“When their appointed time comes it will not be delayed nor will it be hastened before its time” (Surah Al A’raf 7:24) 

So Ibrahim said: “Well if you know this, then how can you expect to be successful at the time of your death when you are disobeying Allah?!” The man said: “Yes, you’re right, give me the fifth one!” So Ibrahim said: “Fifthly: When the Zabaaniyah i.e. the angels who guard the Hell Fire, come to escort you to the Hell Fire, then don’t go with them!” The man couldn’t handle the fifth one and started crying while he was saying: “Enough Ibrahim! Enough! I seek Allah’s forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance!!!” He remained steadfast on obedience to Allah until his demise.  _

Translator’s Note: This narration is taken from a book called Hilyat ul Awliyaa by Abu Nu’aim Al Asbahani (Rahimahullah) and it is a book filled with narrations about amazing events during the time of the Salaf. Some of these narrations may not be authentic or we may not know the authenticity of them, however the scholars use them in the realm of what is called At Targheeb wat Tarheeb (i.e. encouragement (to be obedient to Allah) and discouragement (from disobedience to Allah) and they have stipulated 4 conditions for using these narrations and I will provide them below for the reader’s clarification:

The First: The narration can not be used to establish and/or substantiate a legislative Islamic ruling. As the Islamic rulings in Islam are established and/or supported by authentic unequivocal and concrete texts from the Qur’an, Authentic Sunnah and the Ijma’a (i.e. Consensus) of the Sahabah and the Salaf us Salih (i.e. Righteous Predecessors)

The Second: The narration can not be attributed to the Prophet (Sallahu alaihi wa salam) or the narrator unless the Isnad (i.e. chain of narrators) is affirmed by those scholars who are proficient in that respective field. So that is why the scholars will say when narrating these types of narrations “It was reported….” Or “it was mentioned about…” but they will never say such and such said.

The Third: The class of the narration has to be clarified when quoted so as not to mislead the reader and/or listener to believe that it is authentic if it is not authentic.

The Fourth: It can only be used in the realm of what the scholars call At Targheeb wat Tarheeb, as it was mentioned before.

Translated by Abu Az Zubayr Shadeed Muhammad on Tuesday December 29, 2009
1431H./1/12 in the city of Riyadh, the Capital of Saudi Arabia
http://www.rawdah.org/read-5Things.html

I recently purchased yet another camera, an old Olympus XA2.

It came with the A11 flash which doesn’t seem to work. It sports a 35mm f/3.5 lens with 3 focus modes. The thing that I like most about it is that it has a built-in cover for the lens which can slide open when inspiration strikes and it is time to take a picture. Its size and form-factor feels sort of spy-like. Here’s the most impressive shot (to me at least) that I’ve made with this camera.

Writing is awesome again.

Yashica Electro 35 GSN

flavors.me

This totally worked! I was about to sell this camera broken and get whatever scraps I could. It actually worked!

TV doesn’t make kids smarter…even if it’s labelled as ‘educational’.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/08/ramadan_2009.html

The Minimalist Principle: Omit Needless Things

Voicemail instructions steal your minutes and your money. Fight back!

Source: : Al-Istiqaamah Magazine, Issue No.7 - The Beginnings of Deviation

Firstly: That Shirk began during the time of Noah ‘alayhis-salaam, due to the excessive love and veneration that the people had for certain dead pious Muslim.

Imaam al-Qurtubee (d.654H) - rahimahullaah - said: “The initial images that were made of these righteous men were done in order that the people could be reminded about their righteousness and so strive in being righteous; as they strove. So they worshipped Allaah by the graves of these righteous men. Then a people came after them who forgot the intent of their fore-fathers’ actions. So Shaytaan whispered to them saying: Your fore-fathers used to worship these images and held them in great veneration.”13

Secondly: “That Shaytaan is eager to misguide mankind and to plot against them. He comes from the angle of exploiting man’s emotions, and lures them into doing acts that are (apparently) good. Thus, when Shaytaan saw amongst the people of Noah their great love and esteem for the righteous, he tricked them into going beyond the bounds in their love, and he got them to make and place statues of these dead pious Muslims in their places of gatherings. The objective of this was to make them swerve away from the right path.

Thirdly: That Shaytaan does not only observe the present generation, and seek to deceive only them; but he also wishes to misguide and deceive future generations. Thus, when he could not plunge the present generation, from the people of Noah, into Shirk, he eagerly awaited the next generation’s arrival, in order that he could misguide them.”14

Fourthly: That the worshipping of dead pious Muslims continues to be practiced amongst theUmmah even today. The difference being is that the names have changed. Thus, instead of worshipping Wadd, or Yaghooth, or Ya’ooq; people have instead directed the same practices of Shirk- like supplicating directly to the pious dead, and taking them as intercessors between them and Allaah - to others; such as to Shaykh ‘Abdul-Qaadir al-Jeelaanee in Iraaq, or al-Baydaawee in Eygypt, or Chishtee in India, etc. However, changing the name of a thing, does not change its reality.

View more here.

Here is the link to a post that I really enjoyed on Zen Habits. Here is what I wrote in the comments:

I read this post a few days ago. Since then, I’ve continued to think about this post and have since realized how much I deeply enjoy both the concepts and the style. As a Muslim, as you’re probably aware, we pray at least five times throughout the day. These periods are special moments for us to remember God, worship Him, reflect on our lives, and refocus on our primary goal, which is to attain Paradise. However, due to the hustle and bustle of the day, we often find ourselves just going through the motions. This post has helped encourage me to make the most of these periods throughout my day and to refocus my attention during my prayers. Thank you.

Click here for more photos.

View more photos here.

The Case for Working With Your Hands

This was my Imam. The one whom I took the shahada with; the one whom I learned the basics of this beautiful religion; the one whom I learned Arabic with. I love him dearly and it devastates me to learn of this news. Alhamdulillah, I am very thankful to Allah that he is ok. Oh Allah, I ask you to remove his sins due to this hardship, and replace them with his good deeds.