Renewing Religion: An Overview of Ghazali's Ihya

“The cure for confusion is simply to ask,” said the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). In the Islam FAQ, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other SeekersGuidance scholars give clear, reliable answers to common questions that people ask about Islam–on faith, worship, spirituality, social issues, halal and haram, and a wide range of practical issues related to living Islam with faith, uprightness, and excellence.

The SeekersGuidance Answers service https://seekersguidance.org/submit-a-question/ is one of the leading sources for clear, reliable, balanced, merciful answers from qualified scholars.

In this episode, Shaykh Faraz answers: Can I Makeup Missed Prayers in the Masjid?

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Ustadh Tabraze Azam dives deep into the proprieties of earning a lawful income, its virtues, and its rewards in this life and in the life to come.

The trustworthy, honest trader will be with the prophets, the truthful, and the martyrs [on the Day of Judgement], said the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. (Tirmidhi)

When we live up to the ideals and deep, moral standards of the religion, we can be hopeful of something tremendous from Allah in the hereafter. After all, this life is merely a means to the next and not an end-goal in and of itself. Earning a livelihood is something that most of us can probably relate to, but our fast-paced lives, however, can sometimes hinder our ability to simply pause for a moment and review our trajectory into eternity. Seldom is a moment of contemplation void of any lasting benefit when it is for Allah.

As we try to reconnect with our faith and live it more faithfully, with propriety, we should recall the words of Allah in which He informs us that He “made the day for livelihood.” (Sura al Naba’ 78:11) Thus, it is Allah’s favor upon us by which we are blessed with days in which we can fulfill the purpose of that time. A believer is a “son of his moment,” namely, somebody concerned with being in the right places at the right times, and doing what will be most pleasing to Allah therein. With gratitude, we can come to appreciate the most menial of tasks, and with gratitude, Allah increases us in ways we couldn’t otherwise imagine.

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In this Khutba, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani discusses the approach Muslims should have when engaging with elections and issues of politics. All Muslims should focus on bringing about the benefit for their communities. It is vital that Muslims should have a concern about how they are governed and how various policies affect them and their communities. Shaykh Faraz reminds the congregation that by intending to bring about benefit and dispelling harm, they will fulfill an important obligation of bringing about good for themselves and fellow citizens. Additionally, the power of dua and an optimistic attitude should never be underestimated. Ultimately, Muslims should implore Allah to guide them in making the best decisions in their daily lives. Making fervent and sincere dua for others is a noble act that brings about blessings and well being. By having complete trust and reliance on Allah coupled with taking the means that Allah has created, Muslims will ensure that they are positive contributors to their societies

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Ustadh Tabraze Azam reminds is of the honor Allah has bestowed upon the mosque as a place of worship and the importance of right conduct in it.

Proper manners take time to inculcate. But the more sacred the space or setting, the greater the emphasis is in maintaining a high bar. Each time we display something of a higher level of religion and thank Allah for it, He increases us out of His generosity. Each time we apply ourselves to a deeper level of excellence, it only shows Allah Most High that we truly care and that His religion is certainly something very dear to us.

“And whoever honors the symbols of Allah, it is certainly out of the piety of the heart.” (Sura al Hajj 22:32) A heart stationed between regular gratitude for Allah’s blessings and a look to the eternal life is the kind of heart that is moved to work righteous deeds, even if only seemingly slight.

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In this reminder, Shaykh Yahya Rhodus counsels on how to seek sacred knowledge. He particularly emphasizes making seeking knowledge a priority and taking everything in life as a learning opportunity. He looks at the four components of learning: a teacher, intelligence, correct books, and perseverance. Shaykh Yahya gives specific suggestions on making time for knowledge, and offers guidelines on how to review and process one’s notes and dealing with boredom when studying. He closes by emphasizing the importance of the foundations throughout one’s life.

 

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In this podcast Shaykh Faid Mohammed Said calls the believers to realize the real wrongdoing, is in not repenting and turning to Allah when one errs. He also defines what repentance is. Shaykh Faid goes on to emphasize that Allah is always watching and that we should be heedful of that. He also explains the state of those who do not make repentance, and how their lack of repentance is a turning away from Allah Most High. Conversely, repentance is one of the key traits of the believers.

Shaykh Faid Mohammed Said is the resident scholar at the Larayb Institute For Education, in the UK.

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One of the key sunnas of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is that he was always positive and full of hope in Allah Most High. It didn’t matter what was happening to him or around him, the Prophet’s positive attitude and hope were unconditional. In this Friday khutba, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani highlights Allah’s call to all believers to have unconditional hope. He explains how the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) maintained unconditional hope in Allah.

Shaykh Faraz points out that most people are hopeful only when matters seem to go according to their plan or seem to be in their control. However, he explains that the reason behind the Messenger’s unconditional hope was the complete realization that ultimately all matters are absolutely in Allah’s control. Allah is the Lord who is absolutely Merciful, Caring and Cherishing.

Shaykh Faraz encourages us to place our trust and hope in Allah and call upon Him while bringing to our consciousness those meanings. He calls us to not at all have fear or lose hope about how things are. Allah promises in the Qur’an that “whoever places their trust in Allah, then Allah is their sufficiency” [Surat al-Talaq, verse 3]. Therefore, to the extent one places their trust in Allah, to that extent He will be sufficient for them.

Shaykh Faraz counsels us to have trust and hope in Allah by seeking the good from Him and then taking the means to attaining that good. Whether the matter is personal, communal or global, one should first direct themselves towards Allah and asking Him for the good.

Finally, Shaykh Faraz highlights lessons from the hijra (migration) of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as an example of true hope in Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) took the means outwardly to perform the migration. And all while there were multiple dangers on the way, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had absolute trust in Allah and reassured Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) with what was revealed to him from The Lord of the worlds, “fear not, for Allah is with us”.

This Friday khutba was delivered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani in March 2017 at  the Jame Masjid Oakville, Noor-ul-Haram.

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In this final episode of The Art of Reading, Dr Yusuf Patel asks Shaykh Ahmed El Azhary to holistically summarize all the various points and aspects which were discussed in the previous episodes. Shaykh Ahmed provides a comprehensive plan of how to coalesce all the skills of reading so that a student of knowledge is able to master the art of reading and ensure maximal extraction from a text.

SeekersGuidance would like to thank Shaykh Ahmed El Azhary, Dr Yusuf Patel and Nabiel Mohammed for facilitating this podcast series. We look forward to more beneficial podcasts by Shaykh Ahmed El Azhary in the near future.

 

Biography of Shaykh Ahmed Hussein El Azhary:

Shaykh Ahmed El Azhary is a researcher in Islamic intellectual history and a teacher of Islamic traditional sciences. He’s currently a teacher of Hadith, Usūl, Logic, and Kalam at Rawdatul-Na`īm under the supervision of Habib `Ali al-Jifrī; and at Madyafat Shaykh Ismaīl Sadiq al-`Adawī (RA), a prominent learning center by al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo.

Formerly, Shaykh Ahmed worked as a Lead Researcher at Tabah Foundation. He was appointed by Habib `Ali al-Jifrī to architect the philosophical framework of Suaal initiative – an initiative concerned with modeling an Islamic philosophical response to contemporary existential questions, supervised by Shaykh `Ali Jumu`ah, Habib `Umar and Shaykh Usama al-Azhary. Shaykh Ahmed continues to participate in Suaal initiative through essays, public lectures, and workshops.

Shaykh Ahmed studied Anthropology at American University in Cairo and received his training in Leadership Communication from Tulane University and The University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is also a life-long learner. He holds a diversified portfolio of almost 50 certificates in a variety of subjects – extending from Teaching Character and Clinical Psychology of Children and Young People to Complexity Theory, Model Thinking and Conflict Analysis.

Shaykh Ahmed began his journey of studying traditional sciences about 20 years ago. In addition to studying with scholars from al-Azhar, he had the privilege of studying with visiting scholars from Algeria and India in a one-on-one format and was thus given an exceptional opportunity to study and discuss advanced-level texts of different sorts and over a long period of time. Shaykh Ahmed has more than 70 Ijazas from scholars from all over the Muslim world.

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani discusses salat al-istikhara (the prayer of guidance) by

defining it,

debunking misconceptions regarding it,

the best way to perform it, and

easy ways to integrate it into our lives in a meaningful manner

Some of the common misonceptions include

Istikhara is a prayer in matters of marriage

The signs come in the form of dreams

A sinful person must ask a pious person to perform the prayer on his behalf

Istikhara is only for the big decisions, not small matters

 

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Shaykh Faraz Rabbani discusses the lessons of the great day of Ashura – the 10th of Muharram. This is one of the greatest days of the year – a day the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) highly encouraged us to fast.

This is the day in which…

Prophet Adam was absolved of his error;

the day in which Prophet Nuh was saved from the flood;

the day in which the people of Prophet Yunus were forgiven;

the day in which Prophet Musa and Bani Israel were saved from the Pharaoh

It is from the days in which Allah has favoured and honoured those whom He has tested with trials and challenges – and who responded right through the right choices.

Shaykh Faraz explains the sunnahs related to fasting and devotion on the 10th of Muharram, as well as how the great historical events that happened on this day can help us respond right to the challenges in our life.

The importance of knowing the history of faith – the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself, the past Prophets, the righteous, scholars, saints, and virtuous – is that it gives us embodied examples of turning to Allah through the tests of life, towards becoming of His honoured and beloved servants.