A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Utsman Nuri Tufbas wrote, in “Islam, Spirit, & Form”, that the second caliph, Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab al-Faruq ( r.a. ) was patrolling the streets of Madina, at night, when he stopped, all of a sudden to hear the dispute coming out of a house between a mother and her daughter.   The mother was telling the daughter, “Add some water to the milk that we are going to sell tomorrow!” The daughter replied, “Mother, did not the caliph forbid to add water to milk?” The mother told her daughter off, saying, “How can the caliph know that we add water to milk at this time of the night!” However, the girl, who feared Allah ( s.w.t. ), did not accede to the fraud her mother wanted, and she told the mother: “Mother, let us suppose that the caliph does not see, what about Allah ( s.w.t. )?   It is easy to hide this fraud from people, but how would it be possible to hide it from Allah ( s.w.t. ) who is the All-...

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 Imam ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-’Aziz ( r.a. ) said, “Become a scholar if you are able.  If you are not able, then be a student.  If you cannot, then show love for them.  If you are unable to do even that, then do not hate them.”

Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali wrote, in his Ihya’ ‘Ulum ad-Din , that Imam ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz said, “I saw, in a dream, the Prophet sitting in the company of Abu Bakr asw-Swiddiq and ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab.  I greeted them and then sat down with them.  Whilst I was seated, ‘Ali and Mu’awiyah were led into a room, and the door was closed on them while I watched.  At once, ‘Ali emerged declaring, ‘By the Lord of the Ka’bah, Judgement is Passed in my favour.’  Then Mu’awiyah came out immediately behind him and said, ‘By the Lord of the Ka’bah, I am Forgiven.’” This is not a throwaway anecdote about the afterlife.  It is one of the clearest illustrations in the classical tradition of the Sunni orthodox position on the conflict between Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib and Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan.  Both men emerge from that closed room with a favourable outcome.  Sayyidina ‘Ali is vindicated, his judgement upheld.  Mu’awiyah is fo...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ( r.a. ) wrote a letter to a military commander and said, “Sin is even more dangerous than the ruses of the enemy.   ‘ Amir al-Mu’minin bids upon Manswur that instead of taking fright of his enemy, he should fear transgressing the limits of Allah ( s.w.t. ) .   We overcome our enemies in the battlefield only because of their vices and sins, for, had it not been so, we would not have had the courage to face them.   We can not deploy troops in the same numbers as our enemies can do, nor do we possess the equipment they have got.   Thus, if we equate ourselves with our enemies in misdeeds and transgressions, they would undoubtedly gain a victory over us by virtue of their numerical superiority and strength.”   The ummah will always be in a state of subjugation not because the enemies of Islam have subdued us but because we have been subdued by our lower selves.   The Muslims have r...