Sabri BenKahla

A glimpse of Tunis. On our way to the Sahara...

AsSalam Aliekum, I made this video for my seniors in particular but for those who are the class of 2020. Ma sha Allah, they have all been through a lot: No physical classes these last couple of months, no graduations, no ceremonies or parties to celebrate their achievements. I just want you to know that you are all appreciated and we all have high hopes in you. "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." Be strong, things will get better. It may be stormy now it doesn't rain forever. Have high hopes and expectations and never give up. May Allah protect you all and grant you success in the din and the dunya!

https://youtu.be/7Pv6_Y0pPsk

The 20th Way: Hope (الرجاء) For the class of 2020! Always keep hope alive. Trust in Allah, He will never let us down.

https://youtu.be/NjxRlw7VV3o

One of the best ways to Janna. Kindness to the parents.

The 4th way: Righteousness towards the Parents (بر الوالدين) Immediately after Allah commands us to worship Him alone, He reminds us of having ihsaan towards our parents.

So where did the word quarantine come from? Apparently, the Muslims from earlier generations suspected that diseases were being spread through microorganisms from person to person and in order to prevent human-to-human contamination, Ibn Sina came up with a method of isolating people for 40 days. and called this method Al-Arba'iniya (The forty in Arabic).
Traders from Venice learned this successful method and brought it back to Italy. They called it: 'quarantena' (the forty in Italian and this is where the word quarantine comes from.

‏استنباط بديع لابن تيمية
A wonderful deduction by Ibn Tayimah from some ayat of surah Hud:

( سآوي الى جبل يعصمني من الماء )
هذا عقل.
The verse in the Quran of Noah's son taking refuge from the flood by going into the mountains thinking this will protect him.
THIS IS HUMAN REASONING👆

( لا عاصم اليوم من امر الله الا من رحم )
هذا وحي.

Noah says there is no protection from Allah's command except those for whom He has mercy upon.
THIS IS REVELATION 👆

( وحال بينهما الموج فكان من المغرقين )
هذه النتيجة.
And the waves came between them and his became of those who were drowned.
THIS IS THE RESULT👆

فمن قدم عقله على الكتاب والسنة غرق في بحور
الاهواء والبدع ومن تعود معارضة الشرع بالعقل
لايستقر بقلبه ايمان.
Whoever puts their false logic over the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the messenger will drown in the injustice of lower desires and deviation. And faith will not take place in the heart of whoever gets accustomed to opposing the revelation with their own logic.

Some beautiful treasures of the Qur'an. May Allah grant us understanding of His words and help us to put them in action, ameen!
أصول الأسباب لدخول النار أربعة: (انظر إلى سورة المدثر)
ما سَلَكَكُمْ في سقر؟ قالوا:
1) لم نَكُ من المصلِّين
2) ولم نَكُ نُطْعِمُ المسكين
3) وكنا نخوض مع الخائضين
4) وكنا نكذب بيوم الدين
قارنها بأصول الأسباب لدخول الجنة: انظر إلى سورة المؤمنون أو سورة المعارج:
1) قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ
2) الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ
3) وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ
4) وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِلزَّكَاةِ فَاعِلُونَ

The main reasons for entering the fire as defined in surat al-mudathir are 4:
1)Not being of those keep the prayers, 2)not giving in charity, 3) indulging (in vain talk, wrongdoing, misguidance, wasting time, etc) and 4) denying the last day.

Compare these to the characteristics of the believers that will enter them into Janna as described in sura al-muminoon and surat al-maarij:
1)Being of the believers (Believing in the last day specifically in surat al-maarij), 2)being mindful of the salat (praying it on time with focus, tranquility, and humility), 3) avoiding vain talk and wasteful distractions, and 4) giving in charity.

During these times of trials and tribulations, let us strive to be of the successful ones who enter Jannah. Let us use this gift of time we have been granted to read and understand the book of Allah.

How much would you pay for a spot in Janna (Paradise)? So much more valuable, and a lot less expensive but
بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا والآخرة خير وأبقى
"You prefer the life of this world and the afterlife is better and everlasting."
May Allah help us to get our priorities straight.

انا لله وانا اليه راجعون، أعلن فجر اليوم عن وفاة الشيخ د. محمد المختار بن محمد الأمين الشنقيطي نجل العلامة المعروف “آب ولد اخطور” صاحب تفسير “أضواء البيات”، وذلك في مدينة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.
وقد صلى عليه صلاة الجنازة بعد عصر اليوم في المسجد النبوي، ليدفن بعد ذلك في البقيع.
الحمد لله، من الله علي بدراسة على يده عدة كتب في الأصول و مع علمه لقد استفدت الكثير من أدبه رحمه الله تعالى. صدق رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم -: "إن الله لا يقبض العلم انتزاعًا ينتزعه من العباد، ولكن يقبض العلم بقبض العلماء حتى إذا لم يُبْقِ عالمًا اتَّخذ الناس رؤوسًا جهالاً، فسُئِلوا فأفتوا بغير علم؛ فضلوا وأضلوا" كل ما يذهب عالم يذهب العلم.
To Allah we belong and to Him we return. May Allah have mercy on Sheikh Muhammed Mukhtar the son of Sheikh Muhammed Al-Amin As-Shinqiti. I was blessed to study under him several books in usool al-fiqh. Along with the great knowledge he imparted, i learned from his great manners and character. The prophet (peace be upon him) said: Verily, Allah does not take knowledge by snatching it away from his servants, but rather he takes knowledge by taking the souls of the scholars, until no scholar remains and people follow ignorant leaders. They are asked and they issue judgments without knowledge. Thus, they are astray and lead others astray.” This is from the signs of the day of judgement. Every time a scholar passes away, I am saddened and reminded of this hadith. May Allah forgive his sins and enter him into paradise.

1441, a New Year, a New Start:
With the ending of the year 1440, pointedly the number of minutes per day in our lives, we can recall two major lessons: taking advantage of time and making a fresh start. How many years of our lives have passed, how much time have we wasted? Take heed of the prophet's advice: اغتنمْ خمسًا قبل خمسٍ شبابَك قبل هرمكَ وصحتَك قبل سَقمِكَ وغناكَ قبل فقرِك وفراغَك قبل شغلِك وحياتَكَ قبل موتك.
Take advantage of 5 before 5: your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are occupied, and your life before your death.
Also Hassan al-Basri used to say:
“ابن آدم إنما أنت أيام؛ فإن ذهب يوم ذهب بعضك”.
"Oh child of Adam you are but a bunch of days and every time a day goes so does a part of you."
So lesson 1: Let's take advantage of the gift of time Allah has bestowed upon us.
Also during this time, we remember the hijrah of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم which our calender is founded up. The propher صلى الله عليه وسلم left the oppression and injustice from the pagans of Mecca at the time to start the greatest civilization the world has ever seen in Medina. This lesson, number 2, teaches us no matter how negative the circumstances, we can change it to a positive situation. Maybe we fell short the last year, maybe we didn't reach our goals, maybe we were in places we didn't want to be in. It's okay, we still have a chance, we can still make a fresh start. May Allah bless us in this new year and help us to change for His sake to that which He loves.
جزاكم الله خيرا

Inspired by my bibliophile brother: Qureshi : ) currently reading Muhammed Asad's The Road to Mecca which was written in the 50's. He says in the opening chapter:

The Arabia depicted in the following pages no longer exists. Its solitude and integrity have crumbled under a strong gush of oil and gold that the oil has brought. Its great simplicity has vanished and, with it, much that was humanly unique. It is with pain one feels for something precious, now irretrievably lost, that I remember that last, long desert trek, when we rode, rode, two men on two dromedadaries, through swimming light...

I can see the many changes that have occurred since the time of my studies in Medina until today. Considering how disappointed M. Asad was during his time, i can only imagine what he would say about the current state of affairs.

وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ
And worship your Lord until certainty has come to you!
Do not be of those who worship Ramadan, rather be of those of worship the Lord of Ramadan.
The essence of Islam is tawheed. If one truly worships Allah alone, they will have a peace of heart unparalleled to any worldly pleasure. In our religion, we are taught to not be connected to intermediaries in our worship but to Allah directly.

When Moses left the children of Israel, they started to worship the calf. He wasn’t around so they left their proper worship through tawheed and searched for something else to help them in their worship falling into shirk.

After the death of our beloved prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) some of the Muslims were in shock. They did not know how they would carry on. After confirming the death, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) challenged the people and read from surat al-Imran:
وما محمدإلا رسول قد خلت من قبله الرسل أفإن مات أوقتل إنقلبتم على أعقابكم
"Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? "

When the Muslims were having doubts Abu Bakr quoted this verse to bring them to reality. Then to further emphasize the concept of tawheed he stated his famous words:
أَلا مَنْ كَانَ يَعْبُدُ مُحَمَّدًا صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَإِنَّ مُحَمَّدًا قَدْ مَاتَ، وَمَنْ كَانَ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ حَيٌّ لاَ يَمُوتُ،
"Whoever used to worship Muhammed, verily Muhammed has died and whoever worships Allah, Allah is All-Living and never dies."
He demonstrated to the Muslims that we do not an outside entity to worship Allah correctly.

Unfortunately, nowadays as we move further a nd further away from Ramadan, many Muslims have left the worship of Allah and reverted to their old ways of disobedience. Masajid that were filled in Ramadan are now empty. Many have left the salat, let alone extra fasting or reading the Quran. It’s as if they need Ramadan to worship Allah and as soon as Ramadan is gone, they leave it. Some scholars label such as worshipers of Ramadan as opposed to being worshippers of ARRahman, the Lord of Ramadan.

Allah says in surat anNahl:
وَلاَ تَكُونُواْ كَالَّتِي نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ أَنكَاثًا
Don’t be like the one who spent her whole day sowing and then at the end of the day undid or unraveled all that she worked so hard upon.

Don’t allow all the good deeds you have done in Ramadan to go to waste. From the signs of Allah accepting your worship is to continue in more good deeds. A scary sign is that after doing good works or repentance one reverts to the haram or not worshiping Allah as he did before. In sha Allah, in the next post I’ll discuss some ways to remain steadfast after Ramadan for now in sha Allah, try to fast the 6 days of shawwal and always remember to be continous in your worship of Allah for He commands us to worship Him until the end:
وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ
And worship your Lord until you have achieved certainty (death).

Saying farewell to our beloved Ramadan.😥 May Allah accept from us and bless us with many more to come.

قال ابن تيمية رحمه الله: العبرة بكمال النهايات لا بنقص البدايات.

قال ابن الجوزي رحمه الله :
إن الخيل إذا شارفت نهاية المضمار بذلت قصارى جهدها لتفوز بالسباق .. فلا تكن الخيل أفطن منك ! فإنما الأعمال بالخواتيم ..
فإنك إذا لم تحسن الاستقبال لعلك تحسن الوداع.
Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: When the race horse knows that it is nearing the end of the track it exerts all of its effort to win the race. Do not allow the race horse to be more clever than you. For verily, deeds are judged by their conclusions. So if you didn't do well with welcoming Ramadan then perhaps you will do better bidding it farewell."

Some of my teachers, friends, and fellow activists that Allah has blessed me to unite with this past year. May Allah continue to help us in calling to His Din and bless us with righteous companionship. Ameen!

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