iqra mini issue

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IQRA Mini Issue / April 3, 2010 In this Issue: What Does Islam say About Mothers 1-2 Inspiring wordsA Story of a Smile 3 Keep an eye out4-5 Bake sale, Mothers Day run and much more

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This Issue contains mostly detals for upcoming events, with two very inspiring articles which are definitely worth reading. It title says it all Mini issue, micro would probably be more accurate.

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Page 1: Iqra Mini Issue

IQRA

Mini Issue / April 3, 2010

In this Issue:

What Does Islam say About Mothers 1-2

Inspiring words— A Story of a Smile 3

Keep an eye out– 4-5

Bake sale, Mothers Day run and much more

Page 2: Iqra Mini Issue

What does Islam say about "mothers"?

This is one of the most convincing things about

Islam - the treatment of women in general and es-

pecially the high position mothers held in Islam.

Amongst the clearest examples in Islam of honor-

ing women is the great status of the mother. Islam

commands kindness, respect and obedience to par-

ents and specifically emphasizes and gives prefer-

ence to the mother, as shall be shown in this arti-

cle. Islam raises parents to a status greater than that

found in any other religion or ideology.

The

command to be good to one's parents begins right

from the Qur'an. Allah (swt) says:

"Worship God and join not any partners with Him;

and be kind to your parents..." [Noble Quran 4:36]

The mention of servitude to parents follows imme-

diately after servitude to God. This is repeated

throughout the Qur'an.

"Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but

Him and that you be kind to parents. Whether one

or both of them attain old age in your life, say not

to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but

address them in terms of honor. And out of kind-

ness, lower to them the wing of humility and say,

"My Lord! Bestow on them Your Mercy even as

they cherished me in childhood." [Noble Quran

17:23-24]

The great scholar, Abu al-Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzî (d.

1201CE) explained:

To be kind to one's parents is: to obey them when

they order you to do something, unless it is some-

thing which Allah has forbidden; to give priority to

their orders over voluntary acts of worship; to ab-

stain from that which they forbid you to do; to pro-

vide for them; to serve them; to approach them

with gentle humility and mercy; not to raise your

voice in front of them; nor to fix your glance on

them; nor to call them by their names; and to be

patient with them. (Ibn al-Jawzî, Birr al-Wâlidayn)

The Qur'an emphasizes the great struggle the

mother goes through for her child, to highlight the

need for one to reciprocate their parents and sacri-

fice for them:

"And We have enjoined on man [to be good] to his

parents: in travail upon travail did his mother bear

him and his weaning was over two years. Be

thankful to Me and to your parents, unto Me is the

final destination."[Noble Quran 31:14]

The renowned exegete, Shaykh Abdur-Rahman As

-Sa'di (d. 1956), says about this verse:

{And to your parents} meaning, be kind to your

parents, shower on them love, affection and piety,

both in words and deeds, treat them with tender

humility, provide for them and never harm them

verbally nor physically. Then, Allah mentions the

reason why we should be kind to our parents,

where He says {“His mother bore him in travail

upon travail”}.

That is, the mother bore constant suffering; in pain

and hardship from the first moment she felt the

child moving in her womb to the worst pangs dur-

ing the time of delivery. And {his weaning is for

two years}, that is, during these two years the

Mothers in Islam

Mini Issue - p. 1

Page 3: Iqra Mini Issue

mother breast-feeds her child and looks after him/

her. So after all the years of suffering, hardship,

love and care, could we not, at least, compensate

our mothers for what they have done for us and pay

them back their rights?

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be

upon him) also said in a famous narration:

'Paradise lies at the feet of your mother' [Musnad

Ahmad, Sunan An-Nasâ’i, Sunan Ibn Mâjah]

What can be greater evidence of honoring women

than this? Islam has effectively placed the ultimate

reward for human beings in their devotion to their

mothers.

Shaykh Ibrahîm Ibn Sâlih Al-Mahmud writes:

Treat your mother with the best companionship,

then your father; because paradise is under the

mother's feet. Never disobey your parents, nor make

them angry, otherwise you will live a miserable life

in this world and the hereafter, and your children

will treat you likewise. Ask your parents gently if

you need something. Always thank them if they

give it to you, and excuse them if they do not and

never insist on a matter if they refuse to give you

something. (Al-Mahmoud, How to be kind to your

Parents, p.40)

It is narrated from Talhah ibn Mu'âwiyah as-Salamî

who said:

I came to the Prophet and said, "O Messenger of

Allah, I want to perform Jihad in the way of Allah.

He asked, "Is your mother alive?" I replied, "Yes."

The Prophet then said: "Cling to her feet, because

paradise is there." (at-Tabarânî).

Shaykh Nidhaam Sakkijihaa comments:

Cling to her feet means to submit yourself to her, be

close to her, protect her, serve her because in this is

Paradise and with her satisfaction you will enjoy the

good blessings of Allah. (Sakkijihaa, Honoring the

Parents, p. 52)

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be

upon him) showed us the importance of serving

one's parents in the following narration reported by

Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud:

I asked the Prophet, 'O Messenger of Allah, what is

the best deed?' He replied 'Prayer offered on time.' I

asked, 'What is next in goodness?' He replied, 'To

be dutiful and kind to one's parents.' I further asked,

'What is next in goodness?' He replied, 'Jihad in the

Allah's cause. [Sahîh Bukhârî, Sahîh Muslim]

Just as the Prophet said that kindness to one's par-

ents was of the best deeds, he also said that disobe-

dience to them was amongst the major sins:

"The greatest sins are to associate partners in wor-

ship with Allah, to be undutiful or unkind to one's

parents, to kill a soul forbidden by Allah and to bear

false witness." [Sahîh Bukhârî]

So great was the Islamic emphasis on parents, that

the Muslims considered a great opportunity to attain

paradise in service to one's mother. Iyâs Ibn

Mu'âwiyah was a famous Islamic scholar from the

second generation of Muslims. When his mother

died, Iyâs Ibn Mu'âwiyah cried. He was asked,

"Why do you cry?" He said, "I used to have two

gates open to Paradise, now one of them is closed."

All that has preceded shows how the status of moth-

ers - and consequently that of women - is elevated

to the highest position in Islam, the honor Islam has

given to mothers is beyond that found in any other

religion, ideology or culture. This is clear proof of

the lofty status of Muslim Women. Mashallah and

Alhmadulilah.

Mothers in Islam

Mini Issue - p. 2

Page 4: Iqra Mini Issue

The Story of A Smile- and The healing hands of the

Prophet Muhammad By: Faisal Ansari

As we move through history and

the chaos of our time, and amid

the chaos in places like Gaza,

when all they can hear is the

thunder of gunshots, and all we

can hear is the thunder of mate-

rialism and greed and all they

could smell is the violence in the

air, and all we can smell is our

own lack of content. I think back and am amazed at how I

could allow myself to loose hope whatever the circum-

stance in my own life be here in the land of the free and the

home of the brave. We all have something we are hurting

from and we reach out to each other as Muslims hoping

someone will lend a helping hand. Maybe it is time to re-

think whether we really care or not, or are we just living

day to day?

And it is then that my thoughts become so clear and true,

that three words run through my mind endlessly, repeating

themselves like a broken record: Smiling is a charity, Smil-

ing is a charity, smiling is a charity. His saying softening

my heart somehow and seeing things differently allowing

the anguish and the pain to fade like the stars at dawn.

The final messenger of God named Muhammad (peace

be upon him), when first learning of him it was through a

smile that I became a practicing Muslim.

And now when thinking of the Prophet he reminds me

of a Desert Rose, a desert rose dressed tall in Red standing

and illuminated by the light of the moon, his message calls

to me like a siren in the night and he is a freedom to me

from the evil of my soul, hope, faith and the strength to

carry on and his selfless message contained the greatest gift

to me and to you, a healing and a solace - the greatest gift

being the love of God and a clean soul. A hope that through

a smile we can end the injustice and hatred against the in-

nocent.

In every story of the Prophet Muhammad there is a re-

minder of how he would treat people with a soft heart, af-

fection, concern, love, and most of all, a smile. They say

that He once said something magnificent- "Even a smile is

charity."

A long time ago this young man in his early twenties used

to hate going to the mosque and would only go when his

mother would force him to. When he would go there all he

would see were faces of hatred and discontent. One day

feeling lost and alone he found himself at the footsteps of

that mosque. As he stood outside it, a brother of Syrian ori-

gin appeared and he had a great big smile on his face and

he was smiling right at the young man. This brother had

noor (Iight) on his face and around him, metaphorically

speaking. He really did, and the young man could not

gather why he smiled at him and actually greeted him and

asked him how he was doing. The young man developed a

burning desire after that day to seek out this man and he

eventually became his student and learned the basics of

Islam from him.

It was a smile that brought that confused young man to the

light of God. A simple implementation of the practice of

our beloved Prophet Muhammad being a smile that

shined the light of Islam on him. Who would have every

thought that a smile could go so far and it came from the

heart connected to the light of God. "Light upon Light."

It is through learning about the Prophet and how he

dealt with people that we can learn to love again and treat

our loved ones with respect and a kind word. It is not easy

to do but it can be attained. The Prophet Muhammad

who had a prayer for everything one could think of con-

veyed stories of how he dealt with his people including the

non-Muslims, the new converts to Islam, travelers, the

poor, the passerby, his friends and his loved ones and so

on. And we learn from his history that he took everyone's

situation into consideration and dealt with them with a gen-

tle word and not with harshness as we are so accustomed to

these days. As the Prophet said, "one who is devoid of

mercy is not shown any mercy (Sahih Muslim)."

I What will we do as Muslims? Let's, let the hurt go, be-

cause it is time to stop playing victim to depression, anger,

hatred, guilt, and greed as our Prophet taught us to not

dwell on the past.. As one scholar said, if we were tested

with some of the things that Muhammad , had to deal

with, then we would end up in the puzzle factory wonder-

ing what hit us. Because the problem with our new culture

is that we can't handle pressure and we break at the slight-

est things because we live in a Prozac society of instant

gratification.

It is time to stop running and hiding between the shadows

and the lies wherever that may be for us and to be a light to

other people and make the world a better place.

Mini Issue - p. 3

Page 5: Iqra Mini Issue

Mini Issue - p. 4

Keep an eye out :)

Page 6: Iqra Mini Issue

Mini Issue - p. 5

Keep an eye out :)

Page 7: Iqra Mini Issue

Mini Issue: April 3, 2010