What is happening to our Ummah?! O Sisters and Brothers, are you following the Glorious Quran (Words of Allah the Exalted)? Are you striving to please Allah Subhan Wa Ta’ala?
If our beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) was to visit you for a day…would you be pleased to see him or embarrassed, what do you think he would think about you, would he be proud of YOU?! Are you following and representing Islam wholeheartedly?
Why are so many muslims going astray? What about his great example (Peace and Blessings be upon him) which we have been blessed with, isnt Muhammed (Peace be upon him) our role model? Isnt he the best example we could ever ask for? The answer an undoubtful ‘Yes’, but what exactly have you taken from our beloved Prophet? Who are you following? Who is your idol? Is it a movie star, a singer, an athlete?! Subhan Allah, if only you would learn more about them you would hate to be like them. Who inspires you, who motivates you to excel? Its an important question which each and everyone of us should ask themselves.

One of the major problems I see is ‘Akhlaq’. It is a term derived from the word “Khuluq” meaning the character and the nature, therefore a man’s character would be his qualities and his morals. Here we are refering to the Islamic Charateristics which have been taught to us by our beloved Prophet Muhammed (Peace and Blessings be upon him).

Akhlaq i consider to be at the top of our problem list, its a major issue which needs to be dealt with. By Allah, if we all focused on emulating our beloved Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him), we would witness such great changes within ourselves and from people around us.

is that you do not cause the slightest suffering to the creation of Allah; Allah’s Messenger (Peace and Blessings be upon him) himself gave a beautiful definition of it in the hadith:
“Love for your brother what you love for yourself.”
Are we following this great advice? If not, let’s start today and always remember to continue to perfect your akhlaq. The heaviest of good deeds on the scales on the Day of Judgement are ‘Hosn al Khulq’ (Good Manners).

Narrated Abdullah bin Amr (May Allah be pleased with him): A man asked the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him), “What sort of deeds or traits of Islam are good?” The Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) said, “To feed others, and to greet those whom you know and those whom you do not know.
~ Sahih Al Bukhaari ~

Narrated by Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, ” Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales; and do not look for the faults of others and do not spy, and do not be jealous of one another, and do not desert (cut your relation with) one another, and do not hate one another; and O Allah’s Worshippers! Be brothers (as Allah has ordered you!).” ~ Sahih Al- Bukhaari ~

A quote worth reading and reflecting upon: Allah (the Exalted) created Angels with intellect but without anger or desire. And created animals with anger and desire but without intellect. And created man with intellect (reason), anger and desire. If man’s reason over powers his anger and desires, he rises to the status of that higher than angels. But if his anger and desires overpower his intellect and reason he becomes lower in status than that of an animal. (I always think about this beautiful quote and it becomes a means to strive to better oneself).

If you fear you are struggling, read the Glorious Quran…it’s a cure for us all. May Allah the Exalted strengthen and guide the Muslim Ummah

Pathway To Jannah

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It is probably the most common New Year’s resolution. We have likely made it ourselves, or have heard it from countless friends and family. It goes something like “This year I will lose weight and get fit.” The stampede to the gym ensues, and about three weeks later our resolution finds itself buried inside our mashed potatoes at the Cheesecake Factory. A familiar story, we all know. So how do we break the cycle? The answer involves reorienting our eating habits with that of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).

Qur’anic Perspective on Food

Allah touches on two extremely important points in the Qur’an when it comes to food consumption: quantity and quality.

As to food quantity, He states:

وَڪُلُواْ وَٱشۡرَبُواْ وَلَا تُسۡرِفُوٓاْ‌ۚ

Eat and drink, but not to excess

As to food quality, He states:

يـأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُلُواْ مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَـكُمْ

O people of faith, eat from the pure provisions we have given you

These verses are the golden rules of food consumption. Both the quantity and quality of food we eat have a direct impact on our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Excessive food consumption and poor food choices can lead to obesity. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention,  a staggering 35.7 percent of U.S. adults suffer from obesity and 17 percent of adolescents aged from 2-19 are obese. Americans on average currently consume 31 percent more calories than we did forty years ago. Obesity can lead to countless health problems, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, anxiety and depression.

The way most of us approach food and its consumption is fundamentally flawed. We eat for sport, not survival. When we are bored, we eat. When we see food, we eat. When we watch Food Network, we eat. It is very rare we eat when we are hungry and when we do eat we overeat.

So what is the correct way of approaching food consumption? One Prophetic answer to this is fasting.

Fasting was a regular part of the Messenger’s life. He would fast every Monday and Thursday. He would also fast the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th of each month. Once you add them up you get eleven days, or roughly one-third of the month in which the Messenger would fast.

When the Messenger was not fasting, he was “intermittently fasting”, eating only once a day. If he ate in the morning, he would not eat again until the next morning. If he ate at night, he would not eat until the next night. He once stated, “A believer eats with one stomach while a nonbeliever eats with seven stomachs.” The profound import of this Prophetic statement points to the importance of rooting even our food consumption in faith and the Sacred. It is interesting to note that even ascetics of other religions (such as Buddhist monks) eat one meal a day. This prophetic advice of fasting and intermittent fasting has even recently been championed by some contemporary fitness gurus today.

Now we are all aware of some of the great spiritual rewards of fasting, but I want to share with you and emphasize some of the physical results of regular fasting as well. Many Muslims do not realize that when the Qur’an states that the purpose of fasting is to increase taqwa (God-Awareness), this “taqwa” attained through fasting should also manifest itself on a physical level. These physical results of fasting may have some of the following benefits :

-Reduce blood pressure

-Reduce risk of developing cancer

-Decrease oxidative stress

-Protect against degenerative brain diseases

-Increase fat burning

-Improve blood sugar control and appetite control

-Increase sense of well-being

The Messenger and Food Quality

The Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was a careful and healthy eater. His diet was simple, but packed with nutrients. Among the food he would regularly eat:

– Dates

-Watermelon

-Barley Bread

-Yogurt

-Olive oil

-Cucumber

-Honey

-Milk

-Gourd

-Meat (on occasion)

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