A Muslim Convert Once More

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is extracted from “The Legality of Celebrating the Birth of the Prophet ( s.a.w. )”, by Shaykh Nur ad-Din  Abu ‘Ubadah   ‘Ali ibn Juma’ah.   Imam Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayn al-Bayhaqi ( r.a. ) related from Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i ( r.a. ), “Innovated matters are of two kinds: the first is that which is innovated and contradicts the Book and the sunnah , or a narration and consensus.  This is an innovation of misguidance.  The second is that which is innovated of good which does not contradict anything; this is not blameworthy.  In fact, ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab ( r.a. ), after establishing the prayer in congregation in the month of Ramadhan, said, ‘How good is this innovation.’  Meaning that it has been introduced after not being there and if this is the case, then there is no contradiction with that which has passed.”  This is the last of what Imam ash-Shafi’i ( r.a. ) me...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is adapted from a swuhbah from Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani ( q.s. ) on the 18 th February 2002.   “ Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim ” is the key to Paradise.  “ Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim ” is the crown of Islam on the heads of Muslims.  We must try to keep it.  Every closed door is opening through “ Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim ”; every treasure from Earth and through the Heavens is Opened through “ Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim ”.  And that is the sign of sincerity or of obedience.  The sign of an obedient person is to say, “ Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim ”.   Shaythan is constantly trying to make Muslims forget it.  He wants them to be heedless.  The most heedless people in the world today are Muslims.  Why they are heedless?  Muslims, through their heedlessness, accuse Islam and its principles of being outdated, and try to change Islamic principles into secular ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Utsman Nuri Tufbas wrote, in “Islam, Spirit & Form”, that basic duties have been Declared to the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) through the archangel, Gabriel ( a.s. ).  However, the five compulsory daily prayers were Directly Presented to the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) on the night of Mi’raj , the miraculous journey of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) to the heavens.   At first, it was fifty daily prayers, but when Moses ( a.s. ) told Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ), “O Messenger of Allah!  I unsuccessfully tried this on the Children of Israel before you.  Your people cannot bear that responsibility either!”  The Prophet ( s.a.w. ), that night, appealed to Allah ( s.w.t. ) five times to reduce it to five daily prayers. Prophet Moses ( a.s. ), again, told Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ), “They cannot bear the five daily ones either!”   The Prophet ( s.a.w. ) answered, “I have no face to appeal to Allah any longer!”  And it was, then, ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Utsman Nuri Tufbas wrote, in “The Prophet Muhammad Muswthafa the Elect ( s.a.w. )”, that Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ‘Izz ad-Din ibn Muhammad al-Atsir ( r.a. ) said, “Aware of all the characteristics of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), the Jews were in anxious anticipation of his advent.  So much so that whenever the Jews had a quarrel with the Madinan tribes, Aws and Khazraj, they would threaten them, telling that their days were numbered, since the with the expected prophet, whose arrival was now looming and whom the Jews would follow, would signal the end of the two tribes who would be eradicated just like the tribes of ‘Aad and Iram.”   Imam Abu Nu’aym Ahmad ibn ‘Abdullah al-Aswbahani ( r.a. ) said, “But as the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) was not of Jewish blood, the Jews never came around to accepting him in their entirety.  Striking is the following story narrated by Swafiyyah bint Huyay, the wife of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), and a Jew before...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The Augustinian hypothesis, named after Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, is an old solution to the synoptic problem.   It contends that the Gospel according to Matthew was written first, by Matthew the Apostle ( r.a. ); the Gospel according to Mark was written second, by Mark the Evangelist, who used the Gospel according to Matthew and the sermons of Peter ( a.s. ) as sources.   It then contends that Luke the Evangelist wrote the Gospel according to Luke, and was aware of the two Gospels that preceded him.   Unlike the Two Gospel hypothesis, the Four Document hypothesis and the Farrer hypothesis, the Augustinian hypothesis does not rely on, or argue for, the existence of any further document not explicitly mentioned historically.   Instead, it draws upon textual criticism and the writings of the Church Fathers dating to the first half of the 2 nd Century.   There are two main two areas of contention concer...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Arianism is a Christian heresy which arose in the fourth century.   Arians denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ ( a.s. ).   Arianism bears the distinction of being one of the earliest, and most enduring doctrinal dispute in ecclesiastical history.   Arianism’s main contention is that Jesus ( a.s. ) is not the Second Person in the Trinity and denies the Divine Mystery.   Mainstream Christianity, which is Pauline by creed, bases its theology on select verses of the canonical gospels – gospels that the Pauline faction made canonical.   Matthew 11:27 27 “My Father has Entrusted everything into my hands; none knows the Son truly except the Father, and none knows the Father truly except the Son, and those to whom it is the Son’s good pleasure to reveal him.”   27 Πάντα μοι παρεδόθη ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπιγινώσκει τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ, οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν βούληται ὁ υἱὸς...