Heedlessness, June 24, 2008

Below is the 15 min introduction to the topic of heedlessness. There is some background noise however since we had the lecture outdoors.

I also wanted to add an afterthought that came to me. It was mentioned that getting out of a state of heedlessness requires that one may need to stand out against a crowd and thus may be humiliated. Compare however, the humiliation that one may experience in this world for standing up for what is right to that of the humiliation which one will face for not standing up to the truth on the Day of Judgment. Indeed the latter is much more severe.

Heedlessness, Bassem, June 24th, 2008

The Dangers of Heedlessness, Hamza Yusuf

A ~30min on The Dangers of Heedlessness by Hamza Yusuf.


Click for the here for the audio mp3 format


Wasalaam

Editing our lives

Salams all,

I've finally managed to upload an audio recording of the discussion circle which took place on April 22nd, 2008. Click the link below!

The topic was "Editing our lives". The recording is a 23 min reminder on the topic. Alhamdullah those who attended really liked it, so I hope you do too, and don't be shy to share your comments.



http://www.msamcgill.com/msamcgill/TreeShadeBlog/Editing our lives, short reminder, Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008.WMA

The Prophetic Mirror

Beautiful lecture (17min) describing a Muslim as being a mirror reflecting the light of the blessed Prophet (S). Lecture is in both Arabic and English.

Hamza Yusuf on Television

40 min motivational lecture directed to Muslim youth and the challenges of living in a consumerist society. The effects of television and marketing are discussed for about half the lecture.

Remembering Remembrance

Tuesday, April 7th, 2008

Today our discussion topic title was "Remembering Remembrance" the third and last session of the "Islam as a core" series.

Recap

In the first session "A day in the life of the Prophet (S)" we reflected first on the importance of the Prophet (S) as a model and then discussed how the Prophet (S) divided his day and how he scheduled his different activities during a 24hour day.

In the second session "Intentions, actions and the sunnah", we discussed i) the importance of intentions being in line with the commands of Allah, ii) The importance of acting out actions in the right manner and iii) how the best actions are those which are in accordance to the sunnah.

In today's session be built upon the previous two sessions; we discussed how the Prophet (S) taught us to use remembrance as a way to state our intentions and examples of his (S) remembrance throughout the day.

Vereses

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me. 051.056

• Reflecting upon this, one might ask how can one make every waking moment of his life into worship. One activity that we can embark on to fill our lives with worship is remembrance (Dhikr).

Some verses about remembrance to reflect on:

فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُواْ لِي وَلاَ تَكْفُرُونِ
Therefore remember Me, I will remember you. Give thanks to Me, and reject not Me. 002.152


وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُواْ فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُواْ أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُواْ اللّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَن يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلاَّ اللّهُ وَلَمْ يُصِرُّواْ عَلَى مَا فَعَلُواْ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
And those who, when they do an evil thing or wrong themselves, remember Allah and implore forgiveness for their sins - Who forgiveth sins save Allah only? - and will not knowingly repeat (the wrong) they did. 003.135

• This verse is describing those who ward off (evil), or the Mutakeen.

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ
190 الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ191
Such as remember Allah, standing, sitting, and reclining, and consider the creation of the heavens and the earth, (and say): Our Lord! Thou createdst not this in vain. Glory be to Thee! Preserve us from the doom of Fire. 191 Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to Thee; save us then from the chastisement of the fire. 003.190-1

Hadiths

We also mentioned the hadith mentioned in Imam Nawawi's book "al-adhkar", that (with the meaning of) 'the like of he who remembers his Lord and he who doesn't is like a living person and a dead person', Chapter 2 hadith 11. We also mentioned a hadith in the introduction of the adhkar, informing us (with the meaning of) that when 'a group of people sit down to remember Allah, the angels surround them, Mercy encompasses them, and serenity falls upon them and Allah remembers them in His gathering'.


Disucssion

The remaining of the discussion revolved around:
- stories from the sahaba showing how they integrated remembrance of Allah in their everyday lives.
- The best remembrance is that which the Prophet (S) taught us, yet if we don't have any of his teachings memorized then we can try our best to remember Allah in our own words.

Please add any stories/reflections that you would like to share about the topic

Weekly Discussion Circle: purpose and structure

The purpose of the discussion circle is to provide a venue for us to present and share ideas and concerns which affect us on an individual level or as a society as a whole.

The structure of the sessions is a 15 min introduction of the topic by one of the members followed by 45-60min group discussion.

Last semester the discussion circle was characterized by having an open, respectful, non-judgmental and comfortable environment. Topics discussed last semester included: Problems faced by international and first-year students, culture shock, religious diversity, how Islam guides our relationship with our Lord and with people, backbiting, double standards among Muslims, gender interactions, handling stress, and dealing with different opinions.

Please spread this to those who you think will benefit.

If you have any questions please email me.

Salams
Bassem

ps. Below are some topic suggestions that we will be discussing this semester. Please respond to this message by selecting the one that most interests you or suggest a topic that you would like to be discussed and send it to bghamian@gmail.com

Balancing our lives: stories from the sahaba
Session about how to balance our spiritual lives with our professional lives.

The place of culture in Islam
A session explaining how Islam dealt with the different cultures of different nations and how it applies today.

Forgotten Manners
A session on Islam's emphasis on manners and the role of manners in an Islamic revival.

Dawah- two understandings
A session about the two different perceptions of what dawah is.

Islam as a core: a three part series
Part 1: A day in the life of the Prophet peace be upon him.
A session detailing how the Prophet divided his day and carried out his activities, a lifestyle which is followed till this day by the most productive individuals in society, both Muslim and non-Muslim.
Part 2: The components of good deeds: Action, Intention, and the Sunnah
Explaining the essentials of good deeds focusing on intentions and defining the sunnah.

Part 3: Remembering remembrance.
A session on remembrance as a worship and how to implement it in our every living second.