Remembering Hijrah...A new perspective

From the ProductiveMuslim.com , a new perspective of remembering Hijrah, a refreshing one indeed!

With the beginning of each Islamic year, our scholars & Imam remind us of the momentous journey, our beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) and his companion Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) undertook 1431 Years ago.

As with every Islamic occasion and especially those linked to our Prophet’s beautiful biography, I’ll try my best to extract lessons of productivity for us to share and discuss here.


Perhaps the first lesson that strikes me, and is often not talked about, is the migration itself. In today’s age of ease of transportation, and a globalised tourist industry where everywhere you go, you expect certain basic services and most things are “standardized”, we tend to forget the difficulty of taking a journey to a completely new territory, where you’re not accustomed to the terrain, culture, or people. Although one might argue, that Makkah and Medina are only 3-days-by-camel apart and hence shouldn’t be a world of difference between them, but there was, and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) & his companions didn’t find it easy to live in Medina in the first few months. Moreover, regardless of the proximity, how many of us, are truly ready to leave our homes, our families, our businesses and just go to a new town and start from scratch?

By all scales, the migration itself as an act, wasn’t that easy. So, the question is why? The standard answer is that the migration occurred to escape persecution from Makkah and establish the first Islamic state in Medina. More importantly, Allah (SWT) gave permission for the Prophet for this migration to take place. But there’s another reason, and forgive me, if it seems a bit far-fetched or I’m trying too hard to link everything to Productivity, but think about it, the Prophet’s Dawah wasn’t productive in Makkah & he had to move to Medina for his dawah and his message to be productive!

As mentioned many times before, our Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was THE most productive man on earth. He achieved in 23 years what no one can achieve in 100 years! So for him, staying in Makkah with the persecution from the Makkan people was unproductive. He had a message to deliver, a purpose to fulfil and people are stopping him. He had to find a way out, he had to find a venue for his productivity to unleash.

This brings another powerful lesson of productivity: have a purpose, and not just any purpose, but a purpose greater than yourself! Something that’ll keep you going regardless of what comes against you! SubhanaAllah, for us Muslims, we are TOLD what this purpose should be: worship Allah! The GREATEST purpose ever! But the question is: how many us truly LIVE this purpose? I guarantee you, the moment we embed the worship of Allah in all we do, our life will have a greater meaning than our selfish needs and we’ll be truly productive people.
There are other lessons of productivity in the hijrah as well, from the way the Prophet (Peace be upon him) prepared for his journey to the trust he had in Allah which granted him the well-known miracles. Perhaps I’ll save explaining these lessons to my upcoming book “Life of the Most Productive” or future posts, inshaAllah.

Investing Time

In the holy Quran there is a short chapter which is very unique in its content. Often, when any two of the Prophet Muhammad's companions used to part ways, they made sure to remind each other of this chapter.


The chapter refers to the importance of using one’s limited time on earth wisely. It highlights the importance of living a full and fruitful life that respects the creator’s intentions. There is only one route that leads to eternal paradise and all other paths lead to loss and misery. The Quran urges us to use our time wisely, following the route to eternal happiness.


“By the declining day (time), (1) Lo! ;[To be]Human is a state of loss, (2) save for those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance. (3)”
(Al-ASR (Time))


Every human life is, basically, a given period of time. Life consists of a limited number of days and every day that passes results in a loss of our time on earth until the day when our time here is finished. According to one of Prophet Muhammad’s Hadiths, at every break of dawn the day calls saying: “Oh Human, I am a newly born creature and a witness to your deeds, so make the most out of me for I never come back till the end of days.”

God said that to be human is to be in a general state of loss. With the passing of time our life on earth is gradually consumed. Consequently, time is one of mankind’s most precious assets since it can never be replaced or renewed once it has passed. When we squander our time it is much like someone investing his capital unwisely and not using it to generate profit. However, when we invest
our time wisely, we can avoid this inevitable loss. When we invest our time in that which is right and just, using it to uphold right beliefs, perform good deeds, offer honest advice and speak the truth we are making a wise investment.

Something’s Going On! The Muslims Are Coming

Shahadah Time!


The change that you can believe in! Something is happening in America and in the world. The Muslims are coming, again. The election of Barack Husein Obama is an affect of something bigger, if that isn’t big enough. President Obama made a great Ramadan message. It was so strong in its support of Muslims. It expressed the Obama administrations depth of understanding regarding Islam. Obama had to be clear in his speech that he is a Christian, even after saying that critics are still left wondering.

During the month of Ramadan I have been traveling to masajid (pl. masjid/mosque) around the country. Since the beginning of month this year people seem to be racing to take shahadah, testimony of faith in Islam. They are coming in every color, every age and every social status. In the first ten days Allah informed the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, ”You will not guide to Islam who you love, it is Allah who guides whomever Allah chooses.”

My good friend, Tariq Nelson, reminded me that in the 80’s and 90’s many new shahadahs were told to drop out of school to study only the Qur’an and Arabic language. Others were told to abandon their families as “Kafir”s. Many who accepted Islam in prison established their own understanding of Islam on the “inside”. Rahim Jenkins, The Dean of Re-Entry, explains that their understanding created a social-spiritual safety net during their incarceration yet for too many was not adequate for the realities of everyday life on the “outside”. Today as many of these men and women come home they are proclaiming the virtues of Islam from that context and the message is resonating in the heart of many in the ‘hood. We have had teenagers come to us to accept Islam. Take my advice. Go home with them, met their family. Explain to their parents what is going on and get them involved. If they take shahadah ask the parents to sign a document for activities with the masjid: parent consent form. You may be surprised what the reaction will be.

The wealthy and successful from that era have failed to bring the understanding of Islam into their middle-class social circle. Although, there are exceptions to the rule, many have chosen the Sufi-circle where they can maintain their “white privilege” by day while expressing their Muslim identity by night. Today we need those Muslims and their relatives to come out of the closet with their faith and show that Muslims look just like everybody else in America.

What’s going on! It is clearly not because of something Muslims are doing. Many Muslims are trying to live their faith but are not going door-to-door, or engaging in massive conversion rallies to witness about their faith. For the most part Muslims are just reaching out and sharing the faith in action. That’s not what’s doing it.

Many Muslims have expressed fear that the community is not prepared for the influx of new of believers. In the last major wave of conversions/reversions (90’s-Malcolm X: The Movie) many new members of the faith experienced rejection from their families and their communities. The masajid and their new Muslim community failed to give them the full embrace of Muslim Ummahood (Brotherhood and Sisterhood in Islam), as described by Ismail Faruqi, may Allah have mercy upon him.

We have a second chance to make real the promise of Islam in our community. It is too late to get ready the rain has begun to fall, the sun is rising on a new day for Islam and Muslims in America. Our support of these brothers and sisters is more critical than ever. Should we succeed in educating them to reach for the highest levels of service and personal development, they will become a beacon of hope to Muslims around the world. Should we fail they will become a disgrace to the way of life that has given world civilization a model of excellence and inclusion unrivaled in history.

It is our choice and the time is now to invest in the NEW SHAHADAHs, their parents, their children and their communities.

From blog Imam Johari Abdul Malik

- If this phenomena can happened in USA where muslim is a minority...it should be a greater phenomena in Malaysia where muslim is a majority.....but why it did't happened?..For us to ponder..

"In the Name of Allah": Any Significance?

"I am a non-Muslim and I am reading about your religion. I read that the formula that Muslims use before they start anything includes two important names of the Muslims' God. I am asking about the significance of this formula and why these names are mentioned."

Thank you for your interesting question.

The formula you mentioned is probably what Muslims refer to in Arabic as the "basmalah", the statement with which Muslims begin when we embark on various endeavors. This statement is: "Bismillahir rahmanir raheem", which translates as, "in the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficent".

When a Muslim says the basmalah upon embarking on any work, he or she means: I start by and with the name of God, in quest of His help, blessings, and guidance.

Also Muslims believe that, beginning with this statement, if done with sincerity and conscientious awareness, will not only serve to invoke the blessings and help of God, but will also act as a reminder for the one saying it that this act he or she is commencing must conform to the Divine will and His cause of justice and mercy.

As you may have noticed, this statement has three names, which all refer to God; the first of which is "Allah". This is His proper name, and it is the name of God used by the Arabs — including the Christians — before Islam; and it is the name still used in Arabic versions of the Bible.

Muslims believe it has been always His name, which was revealed to the previous prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all). Historical, archaeological, as well as theological evidence supports that belief.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "The name's [Allah] origin can be traced back to the earliest Semitic ‎writings in which the word for "god" was Il or El, the latter ‎being an Old Testament synonym for Yahweh. Allah is the ‎standard Arabic word for "God" and is also used by Arab ‎Christians as well as by Muslims.‎" (Allāh, last accessed on July 19,2009)

The word Allah is close to the Arabic word "Al-Ilah" (The God). And, whether or not it is derived from it, it does imply the meanings of al-Ilah. These meanings are: the only One to be worshipped; the One to whom belongs all devotion, worship, and gratitude. It also means the One, ultimately loved with obedience and surrendered to with adoration.

There is no plural of this word; and there are no masculine or feminine forms of it because Allah is one; and He is transcendent above genders.

The second attribute is "Al-Rahman" (the Most Merciful). This, Muslims believe, is the most exclusive name of God after His name Allah. It is a superlative from the adjective "Al-Rahim", which means merciful. It comes right after the proper name in the basmalah to assert this quality of His. Allah Almighty said:

*{My Mercy encompasses all things.}* (Al-A`raf 7:156}

The third attribute is the Most Beneficent, "Al-Rahim". It is in the adjective form; and it is here not only to emphasize the quality of mercy, but also to assert the incapacity of any language in truly describing the essence of Allah, while affirming all of His sublime names and attributes and inviting man to ponder over them.

Moreover, the adjective "Al-Rahim", when mentioned next to "Al-Rahman", adds different shades to the quality of mercy, all of which will enable humans to grasp as much as they can of this beautiful attribute.

For example, "Al-Rahman" implies mercy in both lives, while "Al-Rahim" implies mercy in the Hereafter. Also, "Al-Rahman" is a description of Allah's intrinsic quality of mercy, while "Al-Rahim" is about the extension of mercy to His creatures.

A Muslim is required to pray five Prayers daily, which are made of a total of seventeen units called "rakahs". In each of those units, he must recite the opening chapter of the Quran. Those two descriptions of mercy are repeated twice in each unit of Prayer, first in the "basmalah", which directly precedes the opening chapter, and again in the chapter itself, which means Muslims have to actively remind themselves of Allah's mercy at least 68 times per day.

Those names mentioned here are some of Allah's most beautiful names. Among the other names of Allah are the Living One and the Subsisting, in Arabic "Al-Ḥayy Al-Qayyum", the Definitive Truth, or "Al-Ḥaqq", the Compassionate, in Arabic "Al-Wadud", and many others, with a total of 99 names.

In a broader sense, Muslims start their endeavors by mentioning the names of God, since we believe that He is the source of all things; and to Him will return everything. He is the First and the Last; and He is the origin of life and the creator of all things.

He is not only the Creator of all things, but He is the Sovereign over the entire existence, and the Disposer of its affairs. Help is to be sought from Him alone; and trust is to be placed in Him alone.

The belief in the oneness of Allah and in the absoluteness of His perfection brings peace to the minds of the believers and influences their view of life and its various dichotomies.

The various endeavors we pursue in this life need to be all connected together with one thread. That is the thread of devotion to the one and only God, who created life and death, poverty and wealth, day and night, war and peace, and health and disease.

A fractured approach to this life will fail to bring to humanity much needed contentment and serenity. They must be sought from the source of them all.

I hope this answers your question. Please keep in touch.

From IslamOnline.net

5 ways to make this Ramadhan Extraordinary!

By Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury,
Director General, Al-Kauthar Institute

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,

My dear friends and students,

Welcome to our long-lost friend: Ramadan. How we have missed the days of self-restraint and the nights of mercy and delight! After eleven months of sinning, we now have the opportunity to avail ourselves of a month of mercy and forgiveness. For those whose duas have not been answered, the month of answered duas has arrived. For those who have drifted away from the soothing night prayer, or who have never achieved it, the month of the blessed taraweeh has arrived. Welcome to our Lord’s mercy: the month of Ramadan. No doubt each and every one of us approaches Ramadan with a special excitement. Alas for many of us, however: the excitement is met with fear and dread instead.
Will this Ramadan be like the previous ones where I failed to truly take full advantage and mend my ways?
Will this Ramadan only demonstrate to me how far away from Allah I truly am?
Will it be yet another month that passes by without my taking full advantage of it?

If you are feeling this way, know that you are not alone. Many of us feel this way and do not know how to tackle it. As a result, the fear and dread are enough for us to avoid setting new goals and higher aspirations for this month. As a result, we find ourselves at the end of the month in the situation of having failed to benefit from this opportunity and languishing in sorrow at the thought that we will never improve.
I too used to get these whispers and thoughts in my mind. However, I overcame these thoughts with the help of Allah. Here are five things that I have done to tackle these "Ramadan blues". Let me share them with you; perhaps the suggestions may benefit you, and help you to overlook the past and focus on the future.

1. Good thoughts about Allah:

 I remind myself that my Lord is most Generous and Kind. He loves me sincerely. The proof is that even when I disobey Him He still provides for me. That is why He is giving me yet another Ramadan: yet another opportunity to get closer to Him again. He loves to forgive, and His best friends are those who seek His forgiveness the most. He has brought me to another Ramadan so that I can have yet another chance at Laylatul Qadr, and yet another chance to make my duas accepted at the time of iftar, and yet another chance to do Hajj with Rasul-Allah (sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) by doing umrah in this month. He has brought me to Ramadan to sooth the sorrows in my heart with His remembrance, and for me to be reminded of the nights in my grave by the solitude of i’tikaaf: by seeing how it feels to be alone with Him in the mosque. He wants me to lighten the load on my mind, so that is why He has given me the month of the Qur’an: so that I can relive the amazing Word of my Rabb (Lord and Master). The salaf (pious predecessors) would beg Allah for another opportunity for Ramadan, so how fortunate I am that He has given me this chance once again. How fortunate I am that He has given me the chance to know when this month is, so that I can take advantage of it. How fortunate I am that He has given me the yearning in my heart to meet my Lord in this month - and I know that the one who loves to meet His Lord, Allah subhaanahu wa ta’ala also loves to meet him

2. Forget the past and focus on the future:

 I remind myself that past deeds are just that: a matter of the past. I live for the future, not the past. The past will be forgiven insha’Allah if I can mend the future. My concern should be the next deed that I do, because Allah loves to forgive; so I can have every confidence that He will forgive the past because I have nothing but regret for my past sins. The most important consideration for me is what sort of amends I make now. I remind myself of what Imam Ibnul-Qayyim (rahimahu-Allah) said in his Nooniyyah:
By Allah I am not afraid of my past sins,
For indeed they are upon the path of repentance and forgiveness;
Rather my real concern is that [in the next deed] this heart
Might cease to act upon revelation and upon the noble Qur’an.

3. Evaluate previous attempts in order to plan a strategy to make it work this time:

I remember that it is illogical to think that my future chances of success are a reflection of my failures in the past. My past inabilities only show me what to do better this time so that I can increase my chances this time around. So if I tried to pray taraweeh every night but failed, I should look back at what happened in order to learn lessons from those failures. Was it that the Imam’s recitation was not good? If so, then let me try to find a mosque to go to whose Imam recites better. If I failed to complete reciting the whole Qur’an last year, let me look at why that was the case and how I can change it. Can I put up reminders to read the Qur’an, or shall I buy a few more copies of the Qur’an and put them in more convenient places, such as one in my car, another in my briefcase and another on my table, so that I have a mushaf always on hand? If I missed getting up for fajr last Ramadan, why did it happen and how can I change it? Perhaps I should buy more alarm clocks, so let me go to the store right now. Perhaps I should SMS my friends to start a fajr prayer-calling group so that each day one of us is responsible for waking the others up. Perhaps I should make my suhur my heaviest meal so that my body feels hungry at suhur-time and so I get up more easily.

4. Reward, challenge and penalise myself:

I can plan and prepare to reward myself if I finish this Ramadan satisfactorily. So I tell myself that if I can make myself pray all my prayers at the earliest time this Ramadan and recite the Qur’an five times this month, then I will buy myself a new laptop; if I can recite it ten times then I will go away with my family for a holiday, or some other significant reward that I know I would definitely like to treat myself with. I warn myself that if I fail to at least recite the Qur’an five times in this month, then I will donate a thousand dollars to charity. I remind myself that even Allah’s Messenger sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam used to give worldly rewards to those who excelled in battle: e.g. half the war-booty from the raids to the Muslim knights who had taken part in the raid; he (saw) would consider it a great sin upon the one who fails to join the obligatory battle. In the same spirit of reward, challenge and penalty, I would do this for my children and my wife as well by helping them with a reward if they do something extraordinary this month, and a penalty if they did not even do the minimum extra level. In this way I can give them an added incentive to do good in this limited time of Ramadan. I remind myself that ultimately we must do it for Allah and never for a physical prize, but associating an emotional desire with an action and fear of a punishment at the non-performance of it will cause that action to be foremost in the subconscious part of my mind. I remind myself that the worst thing about not making this Ramadan special is going to be something worse than the penalty I have stipulated. It will be the disappointment of a Ramadan wasted, and the risk of Allah’s wrath.

5. Create peer-pressure and responsibility:

I remind myself that if I make my friends and family aware of some of my goals, then they might help me. So I share some of my goals with them, ensuring that I am doing it to engage their help in performing it, not in a spirit of boasting. I hope that this will give me added support and encouragement to ensure that they help me in achieving the good things I have set out to do. If they do not help, at the very least they should not mind when I excuse myself from their service or company in order to spend some time on working towards my goal.
I hope that some or all of these things will help you to look upon this Ramadan with a fresh outlook. Make lots of dua to Allah that this Ramadan will be special for you, for your family, and for the Ummah of our beloved sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. I am interested in hearing from you if you have other things that you do to focus positively at the advent of another Ramadan.
Jazaakumullahulkhair and my duas for you and your family for a fantastic and blessed Ramadan, insha’Allah;
wassalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,

Tawfique Chowdhury
Director General
AlKauthar Institute and Mercy Mission World

Taken from one of my favourite Blogs ..ProductiveMuslim.com

Is My Income Halal?

While surfing the internet today to find other fellow muslim bloggers, I came across a blog called ProductiveMuslim.com
and I feel some sort of obligations to share its posting with others. Good way of "muhasabah" ourself and improve our "halalness" of our income. May Allah SWT give us strength.....

"The TV commercials, recently debuted in major Middle-eastern channels, depict different scenarios which make your income non-halaal, and then cleverly interprets the Prophetic saying "hellfire is more deserving of every flesh which has been nourished through that which is unlawful” by showing fire burning on the faces of those you feed non-halal income. Scary but sooo visual and makes one think!

Although the commercials are in Arabic, yet they are mostly self explanatory. I’ve added some titles/sub-headings to help you understand the gist of what's going on. The last part of each video asks "Is your income halal?""

- my comments; for the purpose of "muhasabah" we should ask ourself instead of others...Is My Income Halal??


TV Commercial 1 - Accepting Bribery at work




TV Commercial 2 - A Doctor at his private clinic who over-prescribes tests/x-rays/medicines for his patients so he earns more money




TV Commercial 3 - A teacher who simply sits in front of her class and does not teach them anything, but sits and waits for the bell to ring so she can sign off and go home.




TV Commercial 4 - Arriving late at work but having your friend sign you in early!




TV Commercial 5 - Waking up late and making up lies as excuses for not coming in!




TV Commercial 6 - A man having trouble with rent/bills/expenses calls his employer who hasn't paid him for 2 months, the employer gives him the excuse that he has no money even though he's having a lavish dinner with his family!

Engineering Wonders - Men's Creation Vs God's Creation

Men's Creation - Burj al Arab

Location : Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Earth

Height : 321 m
Foundation : 230 no of 40m long concrete piles driven into sand
Materials Used: 70,000 m3 of concrete and 9000 tonnes of steel
Years to complete : 3 years for land reclaimation and 3 years to construct
Known as : A 7 star hotel with room cost ranging from USD1000 to USD28000.
Architect and Engineer : WS Atkins PLC, UK
Contractor : Murrays & Roberts, South African
Cost : USD 65o Millions
















God's Creation - The sky

-->Location : U know where....just go outside n look up
Height : Only God knows..but the layers are 7
Foundation : none and no column at all to support...otherwise pilot has to be really an expert to maneuvre through the columns...
Materials used : beyond my knowledge
Years to complete : 6 days (Muslims interpret the description of a "six day" creation as six distinct periods or eons) 
Known as : The blue Sky, the dark sky etc
Architect,Engineer,contractor : The one and only God, Allah SWT
Cost : Priceless to men...Costless to God...



"He it is who created for You All that is on earth. Then He Istawâ (rose over) towards the heaven and made them seven heavens and He is the All-Knower of everything." Al Quran, surah Al-baqarah verse 29.




-->"indeed Your Lord is Allâh, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and Then He Istawâ (rose over) the Throne (really In a manner that suits his Majesty). He brings the night as a cover over the day, seeking it rapidly, and (He created) the sun, the moon, the stars subjected to his Command. surely, his is the creation and Commandment. blessed be Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinns and All that exists)!" Al Quran, surah Al-a'raf verse 54.



So, let us ask ourselves...do we really that great when compare to Allah?

Our so called megastructures are constructed on Allah's properties, use Allah's materials, designed using Allah's given knowledge and yet in our everyday life,we forgot to praise Allah, The Almighty...


" -->Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?" Al Quran, surah Ar Rahman Verse 13

May Allah have mercy on us all....