Snack Catcher

Dear Readers, As Salaamu Alaikum!

 Today we will share with you a short story with a moral to be learnt in the end:

There was once snake catcher who once went to the mountains. Due to the winter cold and heavy snow, many very big snakes lay motionless, as if they were dead.

The Snake Catcher picked up one of these seemingly lifeless snakes and took it to Baghdad, with the purpose of using it for a show. Showing it off, he made big claims as to how he had brilliantly captured the snake.

However, when the sun began to shine and its warmth cloaked the snake, the coldness in its body disappeared. The signs of life were soon apparent and when the snake began to move, the Snake Catcher and all those around, fled.

Moral of the Story:

Our Nafs (self) is like that Snake. With purification, effort, our Nafs becomes frozen. It appears to be dead. But give it a little heat from the fire of sin and it will bite again. A little exposure to some past sins and the Nafs swings back to life.

We should not think that we have killed our Nafs and thus become unmindful. Yes, with some striving, good company, recitation of the Noble Qur'an, following Deen and Shariah and in building up that contact and love for Allah Subhanahu Ta'ala and Rasulullah (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam), and the Nafs can be frozen. However, a little taste of sin revives the evil Nafs.

So we should keep on purifying ourselves b constant worship and Zikr of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. And do good deeds and stop evil. If we continue the evil, the mind loses control and we forget the difference between good and bad to such an extent that we do the evil shamelessly and without any guilt or shame. And constantly strive to attain forgiveness from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. 

With Best Wishes

www.waytoquran.tk

A mother's heart

Dear Readers, As  Salaamu Alaikum!

 ALL PRAISES AND THANKS TO ALLAH, LORD OF THE WORLDS!!

www.waytoquran.tk

Today we will share with you a short story emphasizing how important it is to love our parents, especially our Mother. Many grown-ups do not give much importance to our parents. They get busy in wordly pleasures and chase money or fame and ignore their parents. We will also quote some verses of the Qur’an and Hadiths which highlight the importance of our parents.

There was this young man about twenty years old named Jamal. Jamal was approached by a salesman, Adam, who offered Jamal one hundred thousand dollars (or dinars) for his mother’s heart

Jamal, with dollar signs in his eyes and greed in his heart, took the offer to be literal and went home right away and with a dagger claimed the life of his mother and tore out her heart and hurriedly started back towards the marketplace to find the salesman. On his way to the marketplace, Jamal tripped on some pebbles and as he fell down he dropped his mother’s heart and it got all dirty with the dust from the ground. After he fell, a soft voice came from within the heart and said: “O my son, are you alright?”

Startled, Jamal realized what he had done and started crying. He cried so much that the tears from his eyes rolled down his cheeks and with those tears the dirt on the heart was wiped clean. Jamal, now desperate, wanted a way out of the major sin he had just committed. He picked up his dagger and pulled it up and was about to take his own life. Suddenly, the same soft voice came out a second time from the heart. This time it stated: “O my son, do not kill me twice.”

Jokes of Prophet (saw) with Female Sahabis

• As related by Hasan; An old lady the Ansar (residents of Medina) came to the Prophet and told him:

“Please make a dua (supplication) for me that I go to heaven.”

The Prophet replied: “Did you not hear it? Old women cannot go to heaven.”

The old lady became upset upon this. Then the Prophet said smiling: “Did not you read the verse: “We have d their companions of special creation and made them virgin-pure and beloved, equal in age” (Al-Vakia, 56/35-37). Then in a pleasant manner he explained to the old lady that old women would go to heaven as young girls and thus he cheered her.

• Once Prophet Muhammad told a lady that her husband has a white spot in his eyes. The woman came to the side of her husband being very sad and related what the Prophet had said. Her husband told her that the Prophet had joked with her and that he actually meant that everyone has a white spot in their eyes (En-Nuveyri, IV, 3; Ibn Kuteybe ,439; Krs. Koten, IV,466).

www.waytoquran.tk

Jokes of Prophet (saw) with Male Sahabis

• As related by Enes b. Malik: Once a man came to the Prophet and wanted to give him a ride on his camel. The Prophet replied: “We should give you a ride on a camel’s baby then.”

“But Prophet Muhammad, how can I ride on a camel’s baby?”

The Prophet replied:

“Are not all camels the babies of a mother camel?” (Abu Davud, Edeb, 92; Tirmizi, Birr, 57)

• As related by Enes b. Malik: A sahabi named Anjeshe was leading the camels that were carrying the Prophet’s wives on the way back the last pilgrimage. He was making the camels run with the rhythmic songs he sang with his beautiful voice. The Prophet told him:

“O Anjeshe, ride slowly, do not break the crystals” (Darimi, Istizan, 65).

Here the Prophet used a very delicate and gentle term for women. He stressed that his wives are pure and precious like a crystal and at the same time they are very delicate. They can be easily broken.

• Again related by Enes b. Malik: A bedouin named Zahir brought presents the desert to the Prophet. When he was leaving the Prophet also gave him presents and told him:

“Zahir represents us living in the desert and we represent him living in the city.” Although he was physically a very ugly man, the Prophet loved him dearly. While Zahir was shopping, the Prophet hid himself behind him and asked “Who am I?” Zahir recognized him.

Then the Prophet asked “Who is going to buy this slave?”

Zahir replied: “O Messenger of Allah, do you find me worthless then?”

The Prophet replied:

“Are not you a slave of Allah? You are very worthy in Allah’s presence (Ahmed b. Hanbal, Tirmizi, Kandahlavi, III, 1176).

As can be seen the above anecdotes, Prophet Muhammad used the art of simile and puns very often.

www.waytoquran.tk

Jokes with Prophet (saw)

• Once Prophet Muhammad was playing with his grandsons Hasan and Hussein. The kids were sitting on his shoulders. When Umar saw this he told the children:

“What a fine horse you are riding on!”

The Prophet replied:

“They are fine riders as well. But their father is even better than them” (Heysemi, ibid, IX, 181-182).

• In another incident Hasan and Hussein got lost. The Prophet found them after a long search. The kids were very scared. The Prophet petted and kissed them. He placed both of them on his shoulders and was carrying them home. He ran into Salman who told the children:

“How lucky you are. You have a fine horse.” The Prophet replied:

“They are fine riders as well. But their father is even better than them” (Heysemi, ibid, 182; Koten, IV, 468).

Sahabis’ Jokes with the Prophet (saw)

• Nuayman was one of the most humorous sahabis and he loved the Prophet dearly. Whenever a fine item came to Medina, he would buy it and then give it to the Prophet as a present. One day he saw that some fine quality honey had arrived to Medina. He bought some and brought it to the Prophet. However he had not paid the salesman. He brought the salesman to the Prophet and told him to take the money from the  the Prophet (saw). The Prophet asked:
• 
  

“I thought you brought me the honey as a present!!??”

Nuayman replied: “Prophet Muhammad!  I wanted you to taste this fine honey so much, but I did not have any money. So I did it this way.”

Then the Prophet laughed and paid the salesman (I. Abdilberr , el-Istiab, IV, 473).

www.waytoquran.tk

Parent-child play-in light of Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (saw)

It’s no surprise that experts believe parent-child play is good for families. Lets see what is the point of view of Islam about parent-child play and How did Prophet (saw) teach us to do ot.

Prophet Muhammad’s Jokes and Plays with Children

The people he joked with the most were obviously the grandchildren of the Prophet, Hasan and Hussein. He would hold their hands, place them on his feet and then lift them to his bosom, hug and kiss them. Sometimes he would even carry them on his shoulders.

One day while Prophet Muhammad was going to a meeting, he ran into Hussein who was playing on the street. He stopped in front of him, opened his arms and called him. But Hussein did not want to come to him and he ran away playfully. Then the Prophet ran after Hussein laughing and caught him. Then he kissed and petted him and gave him his blessings.

In another rivayah (narration) by Jabir, the Prophet was pretending to be a camel and his grandsons were riding on his back. He was walking on his hands and feet and made a compliment to them:

“How wonderful is your camel and how wonderful riders you are!”

Enes b. Malik was a sahabi (companion) who had served the Prophet the age of ten. The Prophet sometimes joked with him by saying: “Ya Za’l-uzunayn (O you with two ears).”  Then he would pull Malik’s locks lightly and pet him.

www.waytoquran.tk

Two wives-Humour

A man from the tribe of Banu Nawfal Ibn 'Abd Manaaf married a second wife who was fair and pretty. Umm Mahjan, his first wife, who was dark in complexion, was upset when she heard the news. Jelousy and disappointment drove her to confront her husband, but he explained,

"By Allaah, Umm Mahjan, there is no need to jealously guard me anymore. I am an old man. You too are old and there is no need for me to be jealous over you. Nobody can be more honoured in my sight than you; neither does anybody enjoy a greater right over me than you. I, therefore, advise you to accept my decision and avoid bad thoughts from taking hold of you."

These words pleased her and she felt comfortable. A few days later, he said to her, "Wouldn't you like to live together with my new wife? I think it would create harmony between us. Further, it will be a means of systematic organisation within our home and it will prevent outsiders from making nasty remarks against us."

She agreed and he gave her a dinar, saying "I dislike your co-wife seeking superiority over you simply because she sees you enjoying some speciality. Take this and prepare some special gift which you can give to her tomorrow when we meet."

Marital Humour

Mugheerah Ibn Shu'bah رضي الله عنه narrates: 

 Nobody ever defeated me, except a youth from the tribe of  Banu Harith Ibn Ka'b. I happened to propose to a young woman from the Banu Harith tribe and the youth was present when I arrived.
  He secretly mentioned to me, "Ameer, she is not a righteous woman."
  "What is wrong with her?" I enquired.
  "I noticed a man kissing her," he explained

.  Based on this advice, I abandoned my intention to marry her, only to later learn that the youth had married her. I confronted him and asked, 
"Did you not warn me that you saw a man kissing her?"

  "Yes, it was her father!" he remarked.

www.waytoquran.tk

Raising your Child to be a Muslim

It is related that as he was about to leave home on this momentous journey, his widowed mother sewed forty gold coins inside his coat as part of his inheritance, and as parting advice told him to be forever truthful. The caravan with whom he was travelling had gone as far as Hamadan when it was attacked by a gang of robbers. In the course of their loot, one of the robbers asked him whether he had anything with him and he truthfully replied that he had forty gold coins sewn in his coat. The robber obviously thought he was joking and narrated this incident to his chief who decided to come and see this young man. When his coat was torn open, sure enough there were forty gold coins. The gang leader was astounded. He asked Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani as to why he revealed this when he could have very well kept it secret. Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani told him that his mother had advised him not to lie and he was duty bound to obey his mother, Hearing this, the gang leader was overpowered with remorse, repented, accepted Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani as his Shaykh and so did all his followers and they went on to acquire wilayah (sainthood) themselves. This is how Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani came to be ranked among the Siddiqeen.

www.waytoquran.tk