A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Mu’in ad-Din Hasan Shishty, ( q.s. ) said, “Realisation of God comes to him who keeps vigilance and forgets recollection of self.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu Muhammad ibn Abu Swalih ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani ( q.s. ) said, “Do not become the candle that gives light to others, but itself remains in darkness.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Ibrahim al-Jili ( q.s. ) said, “Sufism in Islam has nothing to do with the spiritual exercises of Hinduism, nor with arts of magic and tricks of deceivers, nor with discipline invented and developed by heretical innovators.  The Sufism of Islam is the cultivation of the characteristics of the al-Musthafa ( s.a.w. ), and the illumination obtained from the lights of his noble breast and his gentle heart bestowed upon him by Allah ( s.w.t. ) through the expansion of his breast.  All of his followers and his community are among those specially Favoured with that expansion and illumination.  Outsiders have no justification for meddling in the significance of Sufism in Islam, for the religion Belongs to Allah ( s.w.t. ).  The truth is with Him and He is the Fairest of judges.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Nidal Malik Hasan, born 08 th September 1970, was a US Army Medical Corps psychiatrist.  He is convicted of fatally shooting 13 people and injuring more than 30 others in the Fort Hood mass shooting on the 05 th November 2009.  Nidal is currently incarcerated at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, awaiting execution while his case is reviewed by appellate courts.  He was a Wahhabi who even wrote to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, and requested to be made a citizen of the so-called Islamic State.   Dr. Alan A. Godlas wrote, on the 02 nd August 2013, about the Nidal Hasan incident, highlighting the incongruency in the spiritual understanding of shari’ah .  He wrote that the difference between referring to shari’ah , consisting of laws and regulations, as “Divine Law”, rather than “Divinely-Inspired law”, is that the former understanding should be considered shirk , a symptom o...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Abu Sa’id Fadhlullah ibn Abu al-Khayr Ahmad Mayhani ( q.s. ) said, “If you are seeking closeness to the Beloved, love everyone.  Whether in their presence or absence, see only their good.  If you want to be as clear and refreshing as the breath of the morning breeze, like the Sun, have nothing but warmth and light for everyone.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Ahmad ibn Ahmad az-Zarruq ( q.s. ) said, “Examine your soul constantly in matters that you are obliged to do, or are needed to be done.  Anything you are in no need of doing, leave it, even if it is something that is recommended.  That means not involving yourself in anything other than absolutely necessary things, and real discernible needs.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) said, “Knowledge exists potentially in the human soul like the seed in the soil; by learning the potential becomes actual.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Ahmad ibn Ahmad az-Zarruq ( q.s. ) said, “ Tawbah is a key.  And taqwa is vast.  And istiqamah is the source of rectification.  Furthermore, a servant is never free of either blunders, or shortcomings, or lassitude.  Therefore, never be neglectful of tawbah , and never turn away from the act of returning to Allah ( s.w.t. ), and never neglect acts that bring you closer to Allah (s .w.t. ).  Indeed, every time one of these three occurs, repent and return.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu Nu‘aym Ahmad ibn ‘Abdullah al-Aswbahani ( r.a. ) recorded, in Hilyat al-Awliya’ , “‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated, ‘On many occasions, I saw my father placing the Blessed hair of Rasulullah ( s.a.w. ) on his mouth and kissing it.  He would also place it on both his eyes.  I also saw him passing that Blessed hair in water and then drinking that water to obtain shifa’ .  He also had a bowl which was used by Rasulullah ( s.a.w. ).  He would wash it with water and drink that water.”

Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-‘Abidin, when he was harassed by the Umayyad tyrants, lamented: “O Winds!  If someday you pass by the sacred land, then pass my salaam Before the Rawdhah al-Aqdas where the most exalted Nabi rests. The sadness of separation from Madina feels, Like a sword stuck deep into my liver. How fortunate are the people of that city in, Which is the Exalted and Beloved Prophet. O Rahmatan li al-‘Aalamin !  Assist Zayn al-‘Abidin, Who is standing alone and in difficulty amongst the tyrants.” Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin survived Karbala in 680 CE only because illness had left him too weak to fight alongside his father, Sayyidina Husayn ibn ‘Ali.  He watched, from a sickbed, as the men of his own household were killed around him.  He was then taken captive, marched in chains alongside the surviving women of the Ahl al-Bayt across the desert to Damascus, and paraded before Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah’s own court, the same court responsible for the massa...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad ( q.s. ) said, “Know that hearing and eyesight are two open doors, whatever enters through them reaches the heart.  How many a thing does a man see or hear, which he should not have, but that once they have entered the heart, it proves difficult to remove them?”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) said, “Not every man with a heart is understanding, nor every man with an ear a listener, nor every man with eyes able to see.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter said, “We, Muslims, do a pretty good job of turning ourselves into a badge of identity, a stick with which to beat other Muslims, ways of feeling good about ourselves - all kinds of things that we use the sunnah for.  But to use it as a human form that represents liberation from the modern prison is generally not the way that we consider it, unfortunately.  Often, it is just another huzhuzh an-nafs , what the ego desires.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter said, “Beware of others or beware of yourself when the energy that moves you in life is actually the ego’s energy, but has found a religious form of expression – that is the most dangerous thing of all.   Self-righteousness that can lead to you eventually blowing yourself up in public – that is the kind of ultimate triumph of the ego: Using the forms of piety in order to magnify the turbulences within. The sunnah is not to be used as a megaphone for our own internal traumas.   The sunnah is a way of moving away from our own rubbish and to mould ourselves outwardly in the form of somebody who is serene - who despite all of the threats, is always smiling, never had any difficulty sleeping, never had ego issues, always at ease.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Hadhrat Malcolm X ( r.a. ) said, “You are not to be so blind with patriotism that you cannot face reality.  Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Habib ‘Umar ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hafizh said, “When light engages the heart, it causes an illumination of the path, a purification of the consciousness, an enlightenment of the intellect, and an establishment of the foundations of dzikr and shukr and of beautiful worship.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The Dalai Lama said, “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.   Just because they are not on your road does not mean they have gotten lost.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abu ad-Dunya ( r.a. ) recorded, in Dham ad-Dunya , “It is reported that some people asked Amir al-Mu’minin ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) to describe this dunya .   ‘Do you want a long description or a brief one?’   They replied, ‘A brief one.’   He said, ‘Its halal leads to Accounts being Taken from you, and its haram leads to the Fire.’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ( r.a. ) was advised, “O ‘Umar, beware of being the ally of Allah in open, while being His enemy in secret.  If one’s nature in open and secret do not equate then he is a hypocrite, and the hypocrites occupy the lowest level in Hellfire.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Hassan ibn ‘Ali ( r.a. ) said, “The best wealth is contentment and the worst poverty is humiliation.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak ( r.a. ) said, “I have seen sins kill the hearts and humiliation is inherited by their continuity.  The abandonment of sins gives life to the hearts and the prevention of your soul is better for it.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yahya an-Ninuwy said, “ ‘Ilm is not memorisation of lines from a book or storing mass information in memory.  A computer can hold masses and masses of information.  Rather, knowledge is internalisation of the sacred texts.  Knowledge is presence of soul and state; information that is not internalised and practised is just information, not real ‘ilm , and has no benefit.  The whole purpose is to be transformed.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter, said, “Know that the world is Allah’s   ( s.w.t. )  Gift, and that He needs nothing in return, and that your worship and gratitude are part of His Gift to you.   And if you realise how much He Gives, and how little you deserve or do, you will never stop praising Him.   He is the Infinitely Lovable, the Overlooker of Faults; the Gifter of All Beauty, so we are surrounded by a banquet! The only rule is: have good table manners, and do not spoil your enjoyment by overindulgence!   Muslims are here to party, giving praise and thanks, and we remember that the swahabah had the most beautiful smiles.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) said, “The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) said, “You must convince your heart that whatever Allah ( s.w.t. ) has Decreed is most appropriate and most beneficial for You.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab al-Faruq ( r.a. ) said, “Stick to the truth, even if the truth kills you.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu Muhammad ibn Abu Swalih ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, ( q.s. ) said, “Seek the fellowship of those who enjoy fellowship with the Lord.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) said, “When you are running away from the world and death is approaching, there is no question of delay in the encounter.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Husayn ibn ‘Ali ( r.a. ) said, “How helpless and powerless is man!  He is unable to have what he desires and is incapable to keep away from what he dislikes.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter said, “The believer’s greatest argument is his face.   True religion lights up the face; false religion fills it with insecurity, rage and suspicion.   This is perceptible not only to insiders, but to anyone who maintains some connection with unsullied primordial human nature in his heart. The early conversions to Islam often took place among populations that had no access to the language of the Muslims who now lived among them; but they were no less profound in consequence.   Religion is ultimately a matter of personal transformation, and no amount of missionary work will persuade people - with the occasional exception of the disturbed and the desperate - unless our own transformation is complete enough to be able to transform others.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Hadhrat Malcolm X ( r.a. ) said, referring to the Qur’an, “People do not realise how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.  Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts their hands on you, make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Ja’far ibn Muhammad asw-Swadiq ( q.s. ) said, “Dishonest and untruthful people never find favour while jealous people never find contentment.  Rude and vulgar people never find acceptance and brotherhood, in leadership or amongst citizens.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Abu Mahfuzh Ma’ruf ibn Firuz al-Karkhi ( q.s. ) said, “When you forsake this world, leave behind everything, for if you have in your heart even an atom of what belongs to the world, then even in prostration you should not be able to forget it.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu Muhammad ibn Abu Swalih ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani ( q.s. ) said, “A man’s position in life is such that though he is mortal, he is reborn with pleasure in the winds of afflictions.  It is that very same life whose consequence is not death.  It is that very same comfort which has no extreme anguish.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ud ( r.a. ) said, “Do not learn knowledge for three: to amaze and confound the foolish, to argue with the learned. and to make people’s faces turn towards you.  Seek what is with Allah   ( s.w.t. )  with your hearts and actions, since only that will remain and whatever is besides it will go.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) said, “Set your life on fire.  Seek those who fan your flames.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) said, “Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, since each of them is irreplaceable and, once gone, can never be retrieved.  Do not be like the deceived fools who are joyous because each day their wealth increases while their life shortens.  What good is an increase in wealth when life grows ever shorter?  Therefore, be joyous only for an increase in knowledge or in good works, for they are your two companions who will accompany you in your grave when your family, wealth, children and friends stay behind.”