June 2017
Ramadan Issue
In this issue: Ramadan Tips Featured Article: "Yours Truly" Brunch Talk Program Book Review: "The Sealed Nectar" Budget 2017 News and Events Ibad-ur-Rehman Photo Gallery Quote of the Day
Welcoming Ramadan
F
If you are feeling so hungry that you can’t take it anymore asting weakens the effect of Shaitan on us. It increas-
read the Quran. Start reading along with a Qari on your
es us in Taqwa which in turn increases our spirituality. Ram-
computer or tablet. Read it loudly, it will help you.
adan is the month that Allah chooses to nourish our spirits
In Ramadan smallest good deed is multiplied manifold.
and weaken our bodies.
Make a list of good deeds you plan on doing this Rama-
Embrace Ramadan! Don’t dread the coming of Ramadan
dan. Giving lots of Sadqah. Helping others break their fast.
or have doubts about fasting. Just go there! Thank Allah
Visiting the sick. Helping around the house and the Masjid.
SWT that you have reached Ramadan.
Approach Ramadan with sincerely changing yourself for the
Ramadan is a time of virtue and mercy. Take advantage of
better. Stop talking about others! You are bound to talk
it. Seek forgiveness for yourselves and your family. Forgive
about others. Don’t lie at all. Be very careful of hurting oth-
others!
ers. Learn to control your lower self.
Eat Sahoor! There is Barakah in it. Even if you drink only
Reconnect with Allah! Rediscover a new deed with Allah.
water. Don’t eat large amount of food at Sahoor. It will get
Maybe promising to have more khushuh in your Salah. OR
digested and you will soon feel hungry for more.
Reading your Salah right on time OR reading Taraweeh
Break your fast on time! Again don’t eat a lot of food. You
regularly if you didn’t before. Just make a new Ramadan
will feel uncomfortable when praying Taraweeh with a full
resolution this year and stick to it.
stomach.
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Yours Truly, “O
mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” [49:13]
Happiness, love, companionship, comfort, and friendship - these are desires that Allah SWT has put within us. Desires that are mentioned in the Qur'an as innately human characteristics. Allah SWT has created us this way. Why then is it that so often our relationship break-off, or become empty devoid of feeling? Does Allah really want us to live in a community, have relationships, have companionship, and get married? Or are these feelings just a trial for us?
Compatibility of the Sexes That Allah SWT created humanity from one male and female does say a lot of about who we are as humans. The Qur'an emphasizes that not only has He created us, but also that we are born from two distinct sets of people, those male and those female. But how can these two distinct groups live together in peace? Let's look into the Quran and take heed: “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another (your rights), and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.”(4:1) Here, Allah reminds us that while we are distinct, we are one. And that to live togeth-
er, we must honor each other's rights in the sight of Allah SWT.
The First Example When Adam (AS) was created, he was placed in Jannah, to enjoy the beauty and ease of that world. There wasn’t any soul other than him there. He wandered around alone. Adam was given intellect, reasoning and freewill to choose between good and bad. He was given education and was taught things which others creations didn’t have knowledge of. But despite the marvelous place he was living in, he felt lonely. One day when he woke up and saw a beautiful person sitting at his head. He asked her who is she? She told Adam that she is a woman. He asked her, why was she created? She replied “So that you might live with me”. This was time when he got what he wanted without knowing what he wanted. Angels wanted to know his extent of knowledge asked him what her name is. Adam replied her name is Hawwa. They said why she is called hawwa Adam replied because she is made from something “Hayy” or living. (from "Early Days", by Ibn Katheer) The story here clearly demonstrates the relationship between Hawwa and Adam. "So that you might live with me." Hawwa was not created to serve Adam, but to provide Adam with an end to his loneliness. A mutual loving relationship. And thus, an example for us to follow.
What is Companionship? “They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them.”[2:187] Not “like clothing”, but “clothing”, does speaks lengths. The nearest, the intimate, the comforting, that one which moves with us, that which was made to fit us and remain with us almost all the time, the one that provides comforts against weather; is 2
the description of clothing. But while the relationship between us and our clothing is one-sided - we wear our clothes, our clothes do not wear us - here Allah SWT describes a two-sided relationship. They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them. This clarifies that there is no difference or inequality when comes to living together as a spouse. Both should cover each other's decency, both are near to each other, both are comfortable on their own and with each other. We have been brainwashed to think that women are solely created to benefit men and they should be obedient, merely subordinate to ‘the creation’ the 'sons' of Adam. But the beauty of the Qur'an paints a wholly different picture if only we read with open hearts.
So What of Marriage? Muslim or human, marriage from the start was not about service. It was not what we think it to be today. But somehow, over the centuries, the main theme got convoluted and marriage became merely a show of status, power, dictatorship, might is right, or for some, just sex. Let’s understand that the original, platonic, relationship was formed when Adam was in Jannah. He asked a companion like him, and he got it in the form of a woman. This clearly emphasize that women and men are made for each other and they can live together without nuisance. Though we don't like to realize it, men do crave companionship more that what we are made to believe. We found out that, it was the man who asked for companionship. [Continued on page 3]
She replied “So that you might live with me”
Youth Center Painting Team
[Continued from page 2]
superficial and childish in behavior.
But when look around, we see chaos, we see confrontation, we see domestic violence, apathy, and dominance and submission. Why have our relationships become so crooked?
So what next, should we continue these societies which marry two individuals who run their lives parallel without an ounce of companionship? Where both suffer loneliness and find the satisfaction elsewhere which may or may not lead them to Haram. Where society forces the suffering spouse to shut up and suck it up because, well that’s how corruption [Fitna] is kept to minimum. Where culture or the powerful dictate that if you want to live, there is next world, you will find the companion there or to do Sabr because keeping marriage is the most important thing, regardless of whether it makes you into defiant, disobedient or even unthankful to Allah.
Our crooked ideas have made women (mostly, but some men too) into a shadow of themselves, or made them cunningly disobedient to Allah or defiant and unthankful to their spouses. But society pressurizes women (mostly), in the name of the religion that this is the only way to survive. Interestingly, with this communal pressure many communities exhibit proudly that their divorce rate is less than none. Not knowing that defiantly overlooking what the first companionship was about, what the Qur'an describes as companionship, is destroying lives and making marriage more of a satanic ritual than a blessed joining of the two. Changing the Future Today when we select our spouse, we select them based on beauty, wealth, race, education and how much he or she can benefit us. If this is about a woman, we'll add highly educated and intelligent, wise and obedient. When our criterion of finding a spouse is based on such superficiality, then we get what we want, a generation who is well-informed, highly educated but at the same time emotionally unintelligent,
Does our society have to remain like cancer where people are suffering in the name of culture, religion or pure selfishness? Moreover, feel like buried alive? Or should do to revive our thinking and align our crooked understandings, fantasy or extra exaggerated expectations with compassion, mercy, ease, and love for others. Would we be a generation who put dead stop to this culture and stands up to create great companionship between spouses? Would we be the ones who changes the criteria of choosing our spouses on the basis of Deen and Ikhlaq instead of superficiality? It’s time to think about our next generation. We can. We must. Only then we will see contentment, we will see emotionally stable generations, the decisive knowledgeable intelligent human built on the composition with which Adam was created.
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The Sealed Nectar BIOGRAPHY OF THE NOBLE PROPHET
By Safi-Ur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri "Say (O Mohammed SAW to the mankind) “If you really love Allah then follow me (Mohammed SAW), Allah will love you…."[Quran 3:31] Few of us are very lucky to have an in -born love for our Prophet SAW and are on the path of Sunnah. Most of us average folks have to develop this love and struggle to follow the Path of Sunnah. What better way to learn to love our prophet other than to read his life story! The Sealed Nectar is an award winning biography of our beloved prophet SAW. Whatever Allah SWT commanded and prohibited in the Quran, its practical example is present in the manners of Mohammed SAW.
IANWC BUDGET In order to run anything, you need a budget. Our homes run on it. We balance our incomes and expenses so much so that after living comfortably we would have something left for rainy days. The same principal goes for the running
of Mussalla too. Our Mussalla (IANWC) requires around $450,000 per year to run. Some of it are the usual non-variable expenditures like electricity, Imam's Salary, Condo fees. While some are subject to change depending upon
that
year
situations
and
needs.
This year also Mussallah awaits your generous donation to carry on for next year, Please do-
nate as much as you can. Donation boxes are
Our 1st
available at all taraweeh locations. There is al-
Eid Stamp
so on-line donation facility available on our
Courtesy: Canada Post
website. All donations are subject to tax receipts, provided you fill the form with the re-
quired
details.
The snap shot of proposed budget is posted above for your review.
Detailed budget here. Questions? finance@ianwc.ca 4
Category 7:
“And those who, when reminded of the verses of their Lord, do not fall upon them deaf and blind.”
I
n the last few Ayahs of Surah Furqan Allah SWT Talks about 8 special groups of people. Allah describes them as Ibad-Ur-Rahman. Allah SWT goes out of His way to show them immediate and special mercy. To become an Ibad-Ur-Rahman you don’t have to make all categories. Anyone who qualify for even one category is an Ibad-Ur-Rahman. The first six categories of Ibad-Ur-Rahman which were discussed under previous newsletters were;
People who are humble and stay away from anger and arrogance
very month there is a get-together for sisters at the
Youth Centre called Brunch Talk. Lectures are given from expert counselors followed by a delicious lunch, and everything is free! This month’s speaker, sister Dahlia Mostafa, a certified life coach and counselor, discussed how to lead a positive life-style. Commit with yourself to be happy! Rewrite your life
story positively. Get rid of or forget all the bad stuff that
People who pray Tahajjud (Night Prayer)
People who are careful in spending their wealth: who are neither spend thrift nor miserly
People who make Dua specially to save themselves from Hellfire.
People who do not do Shirk, do not kill, and stay away from Zina.
People who do not testify to Falsehood, and when they pass near Ill speech , they pass with dignity
E
The seventh group of people are those who, when they are reminded of the Ayahs of the Quran, they listen with great attention and try to understand Allah’s message. They try to change their ways and be better. They don’t pass on the Ayahs as deaf and blind people, but open their hearts to the word of Allah, letting it affect them in the deepest sense.
We should ask ourselves, can we qualify for even one category of the Ibad-Ur-rahman?
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happened in your life. You are the one writing your life story so be positive and use words that are positive.
•
Get rid of friends who suck energy and make friends who are energy givers. Start your mornings with a positive note and don’t talk to people who tend to be negative.
•
Do delegate chores to others in the family. You should work on time management and for that you should delegate stuff, only then you will have more energy. You cannot do everything.
•
Always have some “Me Time” every day. Do something that lifts your energy. Your life is a Black Box! Input positive thoughts. Our psychological health is an Amanah. Allah will not change anything unless you yourself change it.
•
Have an “I am” statement. Always remember after actions there are always results.
Ladies School Graduation Ceremony
Contact Us Got a question?info@ianwc.ca Islamic Association of NW Calgary #23, 7750 Ranchview Drive NW Calgary Alberta
NWMusallah.ca, ianwc.ca
Contribute Got a story? newsletter@ianwc.ca
Editors: Afshan Habib, Shaista Khurshid & Beenish Khurshid
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