Charity Isn't Only In Giving Money

     Have you not seen the person who smiles to you when you are having a day in which the events are not to your liking? Does this action of smiling to one another not bring comfort and warmth? Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) had taught us that smiling is charity. When we think of giving charity then the thought of giving money comes to mind and this is charity but it is only one form of charity. In Islam we are taught that smiling is charity, praising Allah is charity, having intimate relations with the wife is also a form of charity. When the companions (May Allah be Pleased with them) wondered how can intimacy with the wife be considered charity; The Prophet (Peace be upon him) explained that if it was out of marriage and not with the man's wife then it would be a sin but when it is done in a manner which is halal (lawful) then it is considered charity.

    The Prophet (Peace be upon him) always made people feel welcomed and happy around him and people loved to be around him. He (Peace be upon him) is a Prophet and he has an entire nation to teach because he wasn't sent for only Arabs but all of mankind and even though he had such a big task he still made time to sit, smile, and laugh with people. When he (Peace be upon him) would laugh then he wouldn't laugh loudly but he would smile and sometimes his smile was so big that the molar teeth would show and when he (Peace be upon him) cried then he didn't make a loud noise but he was quiet and people could hear a faint sound. The companions said that he (Peace be upon him) was always happy. People were drawn to him (Peace be upon him) and when they were with him then they had a different feeling in their chests compared to when they weren't with him (Peace be upon him). A'isha stated that he (Peace be upon him) was always joking in the house.

     Once an older woman went to him (Peace be upon him) and said, " O RasoolAllah (Peace be upon him) (Messenger of Allah) am I going to go to Jannah (Paradise) ?" 

He (Peace be upon him) replied, "Old women don't go to Paradise."

The old woman became very upset and hurt at hearing this and then The Prophet (Peace be upon him) began to laugh and he said, "You're going to go in young and youthful!" 

    At hearing this the woman's heart became calm and she became happy. 

     There was a companion who wasn't the best looking man and he had a low self esteem. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) noticed this about the companion and so he would always speak good of him and put him on another level. Once Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) saw this companion selling in the market place and so he (Peace be upon him) went to the companion and grabbed him from the back and he began to wrestle with him and play with him so that he can feel seen and happy.

The Prophet (Peace be upon him) shouted, "Who's going to buy this slave of mine? Who's going to buy this slave of mine?" 

When the companion saw the hands of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and he recognized the voice of The Prophet (Peace be upon him) then he didn't fight back because he wanted to be very close to him (Peace be upon him) as physically possible.

The companion then said to The Prophet (Peace be upon him), " O Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him), who would want to buy me even if I was a slave?"

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) then turned the companion around and placed his hands on the companion's shoulders and said, " In the Sight of Allah, you are priceless."

     It was the time of 'Eid and everyone was praising Allah and walking to the mosque with happy faces. The children were holding the hands of their fathers but one child was sitting by himself and he was sad. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) went to the little boy and spoke to him and enquired about his sadness. The little boy explained how his father was martyred in a recent battle which took place and that all the other kids are holding their fathers hands but he doesn't have a father to hold his hand. The kid cried and wanted the others to enjoy this day while he was there in sadness. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) then calmed the child and he comforted him with kind words. He (Peace be upon him) then took the hand of the child and walked him to the mosque and when he talked to the people he put the child on his shoulders so that the child may be happy and feel loved.

   

(  The hands of The Prophet (Peace be upon him) were described to be smoother than silk. Also slave in Arabic  and at the time of The Prophet (Peace be upon him) is different from what we call a slave today )

The Women Amoung Women {2}

Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (Kha-dee-jah) (The first two letters come from the throat)
     The first wife of Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him). The characteristic to focus on with Khadijah is her loyalty. She was extremely loyal to The Prophet(Peace be upon him) and she loved him dearly. She had a nickname amoung the people which was Ameera-Quraysh and it translates to The Princess of Quraysh. Quraysh was the tribe. Basically if we were to call a girl today The Princess of Toronto. She used to be a business woman and she would hire men to go and do trades out of Mecca for her but they would always cheat her with the money. She hired Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) and he went and did the trades for her and when he came back he gave her all of the money. Over time she became interested in him and she was actually older than Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him). She sent her sister to ask him if he is interested in her for marriage. Nobody knew of Islam yet as Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) was not given the title of a Prophet yet. After a short time they had gotten married and they enjoyed life together. When Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) first received revelation he went to her and she comforted him. Khadijah had a cousin who studied the books of the Christians and Jews deeply and in the Injeel (Gospel) and Taurat (Torah) it is mentioned of another Prophet that will come and Prophet Musa(Peace be upon him) and Prophet 'Isa(Peace be upon him) had told their people of the Final messenger to come. He told Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) that the same angel who brought revelation to him(Peace be upon him) brought it to  Prophet Musa(Peace be upon him) and that his people will treat him with enmity for bringing the message to them and if he was alive the day that they did this then he would support Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him). After more Qur'anic Ayat came down Ordering the Prophet(Peace be upon him) to openly call people to Islam they began to hate him and they boycotted the people who believed to the point of starvation. Khadijah had given her wealth to support Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) and after three years she passed away. He missed her deeply and he always spoke good of her even when she passed. When he would give gifts to her friends even after she had passed away. Khadijah is a perfect example of loyalty. 

Fatimah bint Muhammad
    Fatimah was the youngest daughter of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and he loved her dearly and she loved him dearly. When she had gotten married and Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) had asked her where she would want to live in Madinah (Mad-ee-na) and she had told him(Peace be upon him) that she wanted to be right next to him(Peace be upon him). The Prophet(Peace be upon him) was walking and a man was walking behind him and the man would stone The Prophet(Peace be upon him) and whenever he told the people to say La ilaaha ilAllah (There is no god but Allah) then the man would yell and tell people not to accept The Prophet(Peace be upon him) and the man stoned him(Peace be upon him) to the point where he was covered in blood and then his two daughters Zainab (Zay-nab) and Fatimah went and washed his face. Once The Prophet (Peace be upon him) was praying and he went down into prostration. When he did this one of the people who opposed Islam the most was named Abu Jahl (Aboo-Jaal) he told the people if they could get the insides from a dead camel and put it on the back of The Prophet(Peace be upon him) and so the worst amoung them agreed to it. When he had come back they put  the rotting insides of the camel on the back of The Prophet(Peace be upon him) and it was very heavy so he stayed in prostration and he did not break the Salah (prayer). While it was on his back the people began to laugh to the extent that they began to point and fall. A companion named ibn Masud (ib-in Mas-ood) wanted to do something but he couldn't at the time. Somebody told Fatimah about it and she came running and removed it from the back of her father(Peace be upon him) and she rebuked some of the people. Through out her life time she was patient as people hurt her father(Peace be upon him) and she worked very hard as well to take care of her family later on in her life. With patience is ease because she was patient until Mecca was later conquered and hadn't done injustice to those who did injustice to her. Patience is key for all of us and with patience is the building of character. 

The Women Amoung Women

“The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) drew four lines and said, ‘Do you know what these are?’ They said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘The best women of the women of Jannah are Khadeejah bint Khuwaylid, Fatimah bint Muhammad, Maryam bint Imraan and Aasiyah bint Muzahim the wife of Pharaoh.’” [Ahmad]

     Out of all the women that Allah Created there are four women in all of history who were the best to walk this earth. These women are examples of great character from patience to strength to loyalty and modesty to the extent that not only women can learn from them but even men can learn from these women. The stories of these women go into depth and are filled with detail and I cannot do these women any justice by speaking of their stories in a blog post but I will try my best to summarize their stories and show the specific characteristic that stood out to me from them. 

Asiya (As-ee-yeah):
    The wife of the tyrant and criminal Fir'aun (Pharoah) and the step-mother of Prophet Musa (Moo-saa) (Peace be upon him) (Moses).  She found Prophet Musa(Peace be upon him) when he was in the river and she then told Fir'aun if they could take him in to live with them. So Fir'aun agreed. After he grew up Prophet Musa(Peace be upon him) had went to help someone who was in a fight and he punched the other man and killed him. After he accidentally killed this man he left the city and in the time period that he was not in the city he had gotten married and had worked for sometime. He left with his family and then Allah Made him a prophet and told him to go to Fir'aun. He wanted help with his mission that Allah Gave him so he asked Allah to make his brother Harun (Haroon) (Aaron) a Prophet so Allah Accepted and Harun was also a prophet. So they went back to the people to tell them about the religion. Asiya was one of the people who believed in Prophet Musa(Peace be upon him) and she accepted the religion. Fir'aun would want people to worship him and he was angry at this. Fir'aun was a man who threw a woman and her children into a big pot of boiling oil because they believed. Asiya was married to him and he had asked her if she believes and her answer was affirmative. Fir'aun brought his soldiers and he began to whip her and torture her but she stayed firm. There is a hadith that states that he hung her from the ceiling with chains and she asked Allah to build for her a palace in Paradise near to Him ( the du'a which is translated into supplication that she made here is mentioned in the Qur'an )and He Showed her the palace and she began to smile under the torture. She then passed away smiling under this torture. Trust me...it is amazing when you see people smiling after they have passed away in real life. Asiya is an embodiment of strength and courage. 

Maryam
     Maryam bint Imraan (Maryam the daughter of Imraan) and the mother of Prophet 'Isa ibn Maryam (Peace be upon him) (Jesus the son of Maryam)  is one of the best women to walk this earth. Both men and women need to have modesty. It isn't only the women who must cover in Islam but the men must also cover a certain portion of their bodies and lower their gazes. Modesty is also much more than covering the areas which are to be covered but it is character. A person has to have a modest character as well to be modest. Maryam was very modest but I couldn't do her story justice at all since Allah Has Named an entire Surah after her in the Qur'an. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sh91Ghmvdw @2:52 - 7:23.

Understanding Polygamy.

For this topic I could give a lecture about it but I wouldn't be able to explain it better than someone who has studied Islam. So this post is like a mid-break so that those who view this blog might have a better understanding. My apologies for not doing this earlier for those who were confused.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6XrGEy9i1A

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have decided to split this blog up into two parts and the two parts are of such: one part is all about good character and the other part is about remedies for illnesses. The second part is based on a book which I am reading at the moment titled 'Healing With The Medicine Of The Prophet(Peace be upon him)' written by the knowledgeable scholar  named ibn Qayyim. Islam is about balance as The Prophet(Peace be upon him) walked a moderate path. The extremist destroys himself. To be moderate and mild I have decided to make one post about good character and the second about health each week. This way moderation is being practiced and beneficial knowledge on both topics is being shared without over burdening any of the readers who view this blog.

Romance in Islam {2}

      Today many talk about Romeo and Juliet but at the time of The Prophet(Peace be upon him) the people had a real couple that would be looked up to for their love and respect for one another and these two people were named Abi Zara' and Umm Zara' and The Prophet(Peace be upon him) would express the love he had for his wives and it would make them feel happy. He once said to A'isha, "I am in my love and loyalty to you just like Abi Zara' and Umm Zara'."      
      A'isha replied, "You are dearer to me more than my mother and father, you are even more loyal and loving than Abi Zara' to Umm Zara'."
{There was another story that I intended to share but I'm not quite sure of it's authenticity so I won't share it, if I get to learn more of the authenticity then I'll bring it up in the future.}
     Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) would call A'isha "A'ish" as a nickname and he would also call her Humayra which linguistically means The rosy cheeked one. He would call her this because she was light skinned and would get a reddish sort of tan. Another time The Prophet(Peace be upon him) was fixing his shoes and A'isha looked at his forehead and she noticed that there were beads of sweat on it. She didn't look away and she kept looking to the point where The Prophet(Peace be upon him) asked her, "What's the matter?" 
 She replied, “If Abu Bukair Al-Huthali, the poet, saw you, he would know that his poem was written for you.” 
The Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam asked, “What did he say?”
She replied,“Abu Bukair said that if you looked to the majesty of the moon, it twinkles and lights up the world for everybody to see.”
So the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam got up, walked to Aisha, kissed her between the eyes, and said, "wAllahi (I swear By Allah) O A'isha, you are like that to me and more."
     Many think that Islam doesn't encourage romance but if one takes the time to read up on the life of Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) then they would see it's the complete opposite. Only a man of honour would treat a woman with honour and only a man of low quality would treat and speak of women in a disgusting way
. 
"And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought." (30:21)

As you might know by now I like to add videos to help explain furthur, this is a  video which explains this topic a bit more. It's a bit long so I will tell which parts to view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_vjfZjt9g
@4:49-6:19, @15:26-17:37, 

Romance in Islam {1}

There is no speech which is better than the Speech of Allah (Qur'an) and there is no guidance better than the guidance of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and from his teachings is how to be romantic to one's wife. Islam encourages romance and kind treatment towards women and it rids injustice towards women and harshness towards women. This post will consist most of hadiths which are about how The Prophet(Peace be upon him) was with his wives and it's usually his wives who narrate these stories. In the next posts I will speak of some of the wives of The Prophet(Peace be upon him) and some women who were role models in Islam and till this day they are role models in Islam.
    The first wife of Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) was named Khadijah. Whenever the Prophet(Peace be upon him) received Qur'an he described it like he would hear a loud sound and he would begin to sweat and his body would shake. If a someones hand or leg was under his then they described that it would feel as if their hand or leg would crush due to the weight of the revelation. If he was riding an animal and he received revelation while on it then the animal would collapse. This happened for 23 years as the Qur'an took 23 years to come down and it came down as actual speech. When he received the first ayat of Qur'an he was extremely scared and shook and he received the first ayat in a cave named Hira. He ran home and asked Khadijah to cover him and she covered him and she brought comfort to his heart. She always helped him and stood right by him as long as she lived and when she passed away The Prophet(Peace be upon him) was extremely sad and in later years he would say, "She believed in me when no one else did; she accepted Islam when people rejected me; and she helped and comforted me when there was no one else to lend me a helping hand." 
     A'isha was another wife of Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) and she came after Khadijah. People who didn't see The Prophet(Peace be upon him) would go to A'isha to ask her about him after he passed away. When his name would enter her ears then she would begin to miss him so much that she would begin to cry. So A'isha would cry by hearing the name of The Prophet(Peace Be Upon him) but why? What moments did they share together that left such a feeling in her heart (apart from him being The final messenger)? A'isha narrates that many times when Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) would leave the house then he would kiss her on her cheek. Before he would also go to Salah (prayer) he would kiss her. 
    In the Arab society it was considered bad for a man to eat on the same plate as a lady but Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) would sit next to his wives and he would eat with them and he would put a morsel of food in the mouth and she would put a morsel of food in his mouth. A'isha narrates that once she was eating with him(Peace be upon him) and he gave her a cup of water and so she drank from the cup that was given to her. She then states that The Prophet(Peace be upon him) then took the cup and spun it to see where her lip marks were and then he drank from the same spot. 

BIRTH!

Since I am on the topic of women and romance and how that deals with character then I would like to show how the Qur'an gives respect to women and gives a detailed description of embryonic development. This was revealed 1400 years ago. In the Qur'an Allah doesn't only address men but He also addresses women. There is a whole Surah of the Qur'an named An-Nisa (The women) and there is also a Surah named Maryam ( Mary, Mother of Isa (Jesus) ). 

This is a video which explains the embryonic stages in the Qur'an. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuAfmJ3LS4s

This is a video which explains a ayah of the Qur'an which speaks of men not being able to have two hearts but women being able to have two hearts within them. Confused? Watch to find out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD2O9sDlsLQ

Ayah is used instead of verse because the word ayah means that it's basically something so extremely profound and Surah if I remember correctly means something like elevation. So Surah is used instead of chapter and Ayah is used instead of verse. More than one Surah would be called Surat instead of Surahs and more than one Ayah would be called Ayat instead of Ayahs. 

Every week one of my posts will be on the subject which is being spoken about and the second post will be something cool and interesting as it would generate more discussion.