Karamaat - Miracles

The Messenger (saw) wanted for each of us to draw closer to God. 

That we should each endeavour to become more reliant on God, more mindful of the blessings He sends our way and more in awe of His majesty and power. We know that the ways to that ascent are first through the fardh, and then the sunnah, and finally the nafl. And also more importantly through our supplications. 

(The below stories that I reference can be found both in the Seerah and Hadith literature- this work is incomplete as I would like to provide references or at least name the companions involved. However I also beeline and hope that what follows will be of benefit even in this incomplete state). 

This is recalled to me in the story of the companion of the Messenger who used to leave early following the fardh of Fajr. 

The Messenger (saw) enquired after him, because he wanted him to feel that connection in the supplication after the prayer. 

The man’s Neighbour had a date palm whose fruit did often fall into his yard. He worried that his children might eat his neighbour’s fruit, and used to hurry home to prevent this. Look for and read the story, it’s a marvelous one. 

But what I want for you to take from it now, is not the scrupulous honesty of Muslims, nor of how his neighbour became a Muslim being impressed with that selfless honesty, but how the Messenger (saw) cared for his people. That they should feel the connection to God not just through the ordained prayers, but also through heartfelt supplication to the Most Gracious. 

And then the case of the woman who asked, and revelation descended concerning her ask. 

The Messenger (saw) was an extremely intelligent man. A revelation descended concerning men, and a woman came and asked something that would be plainly obvious, “and what about the women?” When you read the story you feel as if the Messenger wished for the revelation to descend concerning her question, maybe he was even holding back a smile when she asked. And it immediately did. 

We know that the Messenger (saw) was al-amin, that for 40 years prior to revelation he was trusted amongst his people and known as being completely truthful. Then why start to lie then, and with an enormity of a lie. And so we know that the revelation here came immediately not from him, but from the Most Gracious who responded to his unasked request. 

That the Messenger (saw) wanted his people to feel that connection. 

Read the story of the woman that asked, and was answered in revelation. And feel the Messenger (saw) wanting an answer from God, even though it would have been easy for him to reply that what is for the men is the same as will be for the women. How he loved his people. 

In another Khutbah I had hinted at the companion who was absent at the expedition to Tabuk. 

As I explained there the Messenger (saw) gave an edict that the companion was to be boycotted by the community. We know that this was not done as a punishment since he himself said “if he had asked me, then I would have prayed for God to forgive him”. And for sure the prayer of the Messenger was always answered. 

So since we know it was not done by way of punishment, we can see that it was done as a means of making the issue a clear one, requiring a clear exoneration from God, by way of revelation. 

That the Messenger (saw) wanted for his people to feel that connection with the Most Gracious. 

This we can see both within his life, and then also in the lives of companions who were spatially distant from him. 

Read the story of the captive Muslim within Mecca, who was chained in retaliation for a Quraishi death. Whom God provided grapes to, whilst there were no grapes in Mecca at that time. When the Messenger (saw) heard of his case after he had gone to meet his maker, how the Messenger (saw) must have smiled. Because that is exactly the connection that he wanted each of us to have. 

And if that was the case of a companion who was spatially distant from the Messenger (saw), then what of us who are temporally distant from him?

After all did he not call us his brethren. 

Us who call him true without having met him. 

It is this closeness to God which should be our aim and goal. 

At times this closeness can result in karamaat- which in English are rendered as miracles, but for the Muslims they are evidence of God’s great care and love. 

That first great care is evidenced when God prevents you for doing harm or wrong to anyone. 

This He can do by physically preventing you, and in a lesser way of reminding you of it’s wrong. 

This is quite unlike some among the Judaic Nation that believe that if facilitates you in allowing you to wrong then this is evidence of His care. 

How ignorant they are of God’s infinite goodness. 

And if He let’s you do that, then that is evidence of the fact that He knows who you are, and would rather your destruction rather than you elevation through the doing of good. 

Later this great care and love can become more clear and evidenced not just in the prevention of your harming others, but in your actual protection. 

And for those that attain to that position may God give them the courage to put that love and care to the test by putting themselves in such positions where they risk loosing everything. 

Not for it to be a test as such for God, but because it is at such times that God’s intervention can be felt, and then you can feel that care and love first hand. It is at these points in your life when you can see and feel that connection. 

Ibrahim (as) when he was thrown into the fire was not yet a Prophet, but with the appearance of the Angel of the fire he became one. It is as it he put himself in that very position to feel God’s intervention, because of his words to the Angel of the fire. Where did that knowledge come from, if it was not ilham- (an inspiration from God)?

What we miss today in our Nation is these people who feel a connection with the Most Gracious, and are willing to chance everything in the hope of that connection proving true. Not for themselves, but so that they can better the situation of the whole of the Muslim Nation, and by that steering force- the whole of Mankind. 

And this is not an elitist ideal, but is accessible to anyone who has a care for the fardh, and then the sunnah, and the nafl prayers. And put themselves out in supplication, and when they wrong hesitate not in the istighfar. And when they miss the ordained Fajr make it up, never losing hope. 

Hudabiyyah: the proof of the Messenger

It’s instructive to consider how somebody could actively sin in the future, beyond even their own passing. 

We know about the passive sin, whereby someone following in your footsteps commits sins because of your prior example (Cain vs Abel). But to actively sin in the future, past even your own burial, that must be impossible, right?

In S Fath, GOD says that He gave the Messenger(saw) a clear and evident victory, and then goes on to say that HE has forgiven him for all of his sins, both past and future. 

   

We know that the Messenger (saw) was masoom, innocent of all sin, because of what occurred after the battle of Badr. There God changed the decree so that Muhammed (saw) would not be classed as a sinner, when he dealt mercifully with the Qurayshi captives of war- those that had fought to destroy the Muslims. At Badr 300 poorly equipped companions stood against 1000 well equipped Quraysh, and Quraysh were routed. 

Muhammed’s (saw) protection from sin can be seen when you study the Seerah and deliberate upon each aspect of it. And then it becomes obvious that Abasa is a necessity dictated as a proof that Muhammed (saw) was not the author of the Quran. 

However, the question that I would like for you to deliberate upon is this statement time limited;  “so God might show His forgiveness for all of your sins, past as well as future” (S Fath, v2); or in this case does it include the Messenger’s (saw) future sins past even our time here?

We know that sins are of two types, commission and omission. Commission is when you commit an act of sin, and omission is where you omit to perform something that you should have. So for example when you fail to feed a hungry neighbour, knowing full well that they will sleep hungry. 

The order of the sin referred to in the above verse relates to neither type of sin. For our Messenger (saw) was masoom, innocent of all sin. 

So, It must relates to something other than commission and omission. 

Surah al- Fath (the Chapter of the Victory) occurs just after Surah Muhammed (saw) and it relates to an incident that could rightly claim to be the clear proof of the truth of the Messenger (saw). 

It’s occasion of revelation is known because of it’s subject matter. 

It was sent down when the Messenger (saw) was on his way back from Mecca, having been denied entry to fulfill the rites of Hajj with his companions. 

Whilst they were not allowed to perform the Hajj, and fulfill the rites that Abraham (as) had bestowed upon us, they brought with them something much better. 

This is what GOD calls for them a clear and manifest victory (S Fath, v1). 

And that victory was ostensibly the Peace Treaty that the Messenger (saw) had concluded with Quraysh, the guardians of Mecca, and his tribe and people who had denied him, and tried to kill him on three previous occasions. 

The Companions grumbled that it was a one sided treaty, and that the believers had lost much and gained but little. 

But GOD here in revelation terms it a clear, and manifest victory. Does He do so to raise their demeanour?

Time proved that the treaty of Peace (treaty of Hudabiyyah) worked to the advantage of the Muslims. For differing tribes allied with either side, some with the Muslims in Medina and some with Quraysh in Mecca. And the net result of this was two-fold:

1- Medina was seen to be on par, if not equal to Mecca. Whilst on the prior two battles fought between each side, Medina had defended itself against Qurayshi aggression. 

2- Peace worked in favour of the Muslim faith, since it called people back to the simplicity and nobility of Abraham’s original faith- to believe in One God, the Creator, the Most Gracious- and away from idols and mystery religions that were fully man made. 

But this was not the real Victory talked about in this Chapter. The Victory here is a constant victory, that anyone who revisits the occasion of the Treaty of Hudabiyyah can feel for themselves. 

If you have not read the narrative then do so now, pick up a book of Seerah before reading further. 

It is a victory that resonates both here, now, and in the future. And it is for that reason that God says that because of it that God forgave the Messenger’s sins both past and future. 

For proofs are of many types, but the greatest order of proofs are by way of contradiction. And it is instructive that the Quran makes use of this device (S Baqara v23), and that it is also evident in event of Hudabiyyah. 

For the greatest truths will always be found at the most contradictory of events.

Sometimes these are within the events themselves, at others with what is considered true (as in the case of the last three days of Jesus (as)), and lastly when the event contradicts with human nature as we know it.

For the Messenger (saw) was vested with an incredible mission, to be a Messenger to the World, and its future people - us, and even those that come after us. No other prophet had been vested with anything remotely similar. 

And so Hudabbiyah. 

So contradictory an event that no one could ever imagine it not having taken place as narrated in our history books (Seerah). 

A chief of Quraysh compared Muhammed (saw) to Chosroes and to the Roman Caesars and found that the Messenger was more beloved of his people than those two Emperors amongst their people. 

And yet a Hudabiyyah they disobeyed him. 

And there read who it was that amended the treaty when Quraysh objected to the title of the Messenger (saw) being included within its body of text, and the manner of that amendment. 

That Muhammed (saw) was unlettered, could not read nor write, but was no illiterate. That therefore once again it is clear that he is not the author of the Quran. 

That he bore with patience and was ever a man of the deepest faith. 

How he acquiesced to all of their demands. 

And remained faithful. 

And how God granted him victory, in spite of all of their schemes. 

And so it is that with the event at Hudabiyyah, the truth of the Messenger (saw) would be evident to any with a discerning mind for all generations and for those yet to come. 

A favour from God to Muhammed (saw) that would enable him to complete his mission to Mankind, and its future generations, and that which God entrusted him with. 

And that is once again the sin that God protected him from by way of Hudabiyyah, that he would not fulfil his given mission and that which God entrusted him with.  

May God reward the Messenger (saw) with abundance. Aameen. 

Winter’s Kiss

Frozen soft is winters kiss

Nev’r so bared as on naked lips 

Sprightly trees still standing tall 

Upright tombs of years bygone

Housing pipes that will soon 

run endlessly with life giving sap

Roofs, lightened with icing sugar 

Deep inside your hearth’s desire

Busily made with lots of flurry 

Sumptuously eaten with slow aplomb 

Night sky has quickly fallen 

The lands bright with reflective light

Limbs frozen, feet of ice 

Stamped and shaken, life regales

Where is the rhyme in all this verse 

Out jumps it, like a curse. 

END

Penned sometime 2019

Contentment, and the Trial of Gratitude

 Are we supposed to be contented?

Contentment is satiety. 

It is being satisfied with what you have been given. 

But is that really what our great religion teaches us about how we should be, and how we should live? 

Happiness is more than that, and whilst some would argue that it is a fleeting emotion and should not be what we should seek, but here let’s explore this further. 

 

Two orthogonal factors come to mind when we discuss happiness and contentment: expectation and gratitude. 

Shukr (thankfulness) is the basis of our religion, and the first words that emanate from ourselves after the first takbeer that marks the commencement of our prayer: all thanks and gratitude is due to the Lord of all the Worlds. 

It is the recognition that we should be grateful for what we have that makes us happy no matter how much less we have than others. 

The Messenger (saw) informed us that if we, on a daily basis, know where our next meal is coming from and have a roof over our head, then that is enough to be thankful for. And it is this act of gratitude, the five ritual prayers, that marks what it means to be Muslim. 

We can also see that expectation has a bearing on this, that when we expect much and achieve, or are given, less than that then how can we be satisfied, let alone be happy?

And that when your expectations are met, or are low, then that is a sure way of ensuring contentment. 

Should we therefore assume that the two are dependent, and therefore not orthogonal- gratitude and expectation? That to be happy, and contented, we must ensure that we cultivate low expectations as well as a mindset of gratitude. 

But this is not what our sublime religion teaches us. This assumption is quashed by the very heart of our belief: supplication. 

Orthogonality and independence should mean that we see that gratitude and expectation can exist in varying degrees within a man, independent of one another. 

That each of these cases are equally likely:

1- high gratitude, high expectation. 

2- high gratitude, low expectation. 

3- low gratitude, high expectation. 

4- low gratitude, low expectation. 

Our religion has it that the last two cases are the ways of a non-believer, they can never be grateful because they cannot see past their noses to one who is greater than they. And they believe not in the unseen. 

The second case is the one which is a given, and is easy to achieve, and that is the case that most Muslims aim for. 

But it’s the first case that is revolutionary, and is demanded of those that seek to comprehend the true generosity of the Most Gracious. 

That you should ask in supplication for the most that you can fathom, that you should act on that ask and believe fully in it’s ability of being realized with the help of the Most Gracious. 

And crucially if it comes not to pass then that should not dent your gratitude. And it should not stop you from asking again, and believing again and acting as if that belief fully had the ability to be realized by the Grace of the Most Merciful. 

That is the trial of gratitude. 

And what a blessed place to be in. 

Yes it’s true: happiness is fleeting. 

It comes and goes. 

But gratitude to the Most Gracious should ever remain. 

And here we must remember the one whom we were asked to follow:

The Messenger (saw) informed us that on the Day of Decision when we are all brought before the Most Gracious, that he will fall in prostration before the Infinitely Merciful. And he will not rise from that prostration, our sujood, until he had had his fill. 

The implication here is that in this life Muhammad (saw) never had his fill of such. And that we who follow in his footsteps must, in the like, busy ourselves with righting wrongs, upholding other’s rights and helping still others on their paths towards God. 

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. Not through lectures, nor talks, nor this above. 

GLOSSARY:

Orthogonal - when two things are orthogonal it means that knowing both fills out the whole space, and that we tried to ensure that one variable is not contained in the other- that both are independent of one another and not interdependent.

A tale of two Nations

Who takes pride in a measley division in 

No better than the miser who covets others’ provision. 

And he thinks that the power of quantity

The dumbing down of all and sundry

The masses, the tabloid rabble, with fierce names 

“Does power the engines of progress?”

So that there come to sway over them

A lesser Napoleon, from a lesser tale

Who taunts at a religion 

That makes the rich the brother of the poor 

That makes wealth not sought for.

A burden, more burdensome than ever before 

Instead a perfectly mercantile society, where there is no division 

No cat/ mouse, no counter revision. 

No proletariat- bourgeoisie schism. 

Just a people who revel, each, in the giving. 

A Nation built on one commonality 

That each is equal 

But much more so 

those that live in poverty.

The engines here are not for one over the other 

The engines here are for one giving to t’other.

END

Western society sees the division between rich and poor as being a necessary evil that spurs progress. But not so Muslim society which makes the rich man the brother of the poor man.

Ta Ha

Alchemy of the Soul

The transformative power of the religion only begins with the testimony of faith. 

When Umar (ra) the then arch enemy of the faith set out to murder Muhammed (saw) he was told that he should see to his own household first, for unbeknownst to him his sister had entered the religion. 

After aggressively slapping her, he felt remorse and asked for her to read what Muhammed (saw) had been sent. 

She read the first verses of Surah Taha, and later Umar said that it was as if the revelation had been revealed just for him. 

It spoke directly to him. 

TaHa

We have not revealed unto you this Quran that you should be distressed by it. 

But as a reminder unto him who fears. 

A revelation from the Creator of the earth and the high heavens. 

The most merciful who is established on the throne (of authority). 

To Him belong all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and whatever is between them and whatever is beneath the soil. 

And if you pronounce the word aloud (or keep it hidden, then it matters not), for to Him belongs the knowledge of what you keep secret, and what is still more hidden. 

Allah, there is no god but He, and to Him belong the most beautiful names. *1

Why did these verses have such a transformative effect on Umar (ra)?

For he was a man of a single heart,  not devious, nor cunning but simply true to whatever he believed to be true. 

And he had seen and worried about the new faith, that it had set father against son, son against father and brother against brother. 

And this discord within his community was a source of dismay and distress to him. 

So much so that it was the very reason that he had wanted to end it by ending the Messengers life. 

So with the first line of TaHa it was as if this pain that he was feeling was being directly addressed: that Truth is simply that, even that is when it distresses people it still remains true. 

And the clarity, simplicity and beauty of the message made it an evident truth. 

And then the decisiveness of the judgment was made clear ... it does not matter whether you declare its truth or not, for Allah knows what you keep secret and those things that are still more hidden in you. Then should you not submit your will to the One who knows you better than you know yourself?

Umar (ra) set out with loosened sword to kill the Messenger (saw), and ended up on that same day bearing witness to his truth and the Oneness of God. 

Indeed the revelation of the Quran is a psychological manual on many levels. 

Indeed when we read the battle of Uhud in the historical account given by the Seerah and then compare it to the account given in the revelation then we see a disparity. 

Unlike other revelations given to other prophets which were in essence prophesies of the future, the revelation of the Quran (like in the Uhud example above) occurred after the fact. 

It is as if God is teaching us that things happen, but what is more important than the fact of the happening is your interpretation of what happened. 

It is what you decide to take from it, and how you remember it, that can act as a positive spur for you to go on from there. 

At Uhud the Messenger (saw) and the Muslims were defeated. 

And yet the Messenger (saw) said of Uhud that it is like a mountain of gold for the believers. 

Who other than a Messenger could have said such words?

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. Not lecture, nor talks, nor this above. 

*1 Ibn Ishaq tells us that it was recited to verse 14- Verily I am Allah, there is no God but me, so serve me only, and establish regular prayer to remember me. However the words establish prayer belong at earliest to a late Meccan period. 

The Declaration of Faith as Protection

“Every action is by it’s intention”

Strangely this facet of our belief on one occasion does an about turn. 

Every action shall be judged by its intention, is a means for us to check our intention before the action. For us to check our action before it is too late. 

The English have another saying which is no less true: “the path to hell lies paved with good intentions”. The Khawarij did not intend harm, but their ceding from Ali (ra) on grounds which proved that they knew nothing of the religion beyond it’s rituals, said more about who they were and where they were destined for, than those rituals themselves. 

The one act that in our religion completely turns this understanding of intention preceding action on its head, is the one thing that makes us Muslim in the first place. 

For when we suggest that a person take the Shahadah, we are not required to check and interrogate their beliefs. 

We do not need to ensure that their intentions are pure. 

Indeed it is the declaration of faith that guarantees protection. 

Classically we all recall that when Ali (ra) was fighting an enemy and he spat on him, that Ali left him be, because he did not want to fight out of anger. 

The fight was fought for good over evil, and once it became personal then that pure fight left him, and he left it. 

Likewise on a field of battle it is the saying of the Shahadah that conferred protection, even that is when the enemy was at his last straw. 

It is this fact of our religion that conferred on it the erroneous idea that Islam was spread by the sword. 

Because once said irrespective of your intention, whether to avert your imminent death, or for any other reason, it was accepted as a fact. 

That the saying of it did not require us to check their beliefs, nor even instruct them in the prayer, nor in anything else except as they wished and wanted. 

They were Muslim. 

And were counted amongst the brotherhood and sisterhood of Islam. 

Indeed it is the Shahadah that confers protection on us all, as is narrated in Hadith ul-bitaka, that Muadh (ra) only gave up to us on his death bed. 

And then we have the case of the man who came to the Messenger (saw) whilst a battle raged, and asked to be allowed to fight alongside the Muslims. 

The Messenger (saw) asked, are you a Muslim?

The man said no, and the Messenger refused. 

Thrice this happened and thrice was the refusal. 

And then the man took his Shahadah and was allowed to fight with the Muslims. 

Consider the Messenger (saw) knew what his response would be on to the two following questions and yet continued to ask “Are you a Muslim?”

The Shahada does not need to be heartfelt, because the transformative power of it is awe inspiring. 

Indeed many people who enter into the fold of Islam talk about a weight being lifted from them, or about the intense feeling of them doing something which is incredible. 

But we who are born into it, cannot feel this transformative power unless we enter into it in fullness. 

The Shahadah- I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except the One True GOD, and Muhammed is his Messenger-

• is enough to clear all of your sins, to make you as a new born baby in both God’s eyes and the eyes of the Muslims. 
• is enough to make you accepted as a fellow Muslim, by the whole brotherhood of Islam. 
• is enough to confer protection upon you, for in essence it is a treaty that you bind with the Most Gracious. And that the Muslims honour. 
• is enough to guarantee you paradise, if you stay true. 

 Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation, not through lectures and talks, nor this above.