SEEKING THE LIGHT

Assalamua'alaikum. praise to Allah for I am still alive. I just recalled back the ceramah from ustaz in the radio, or maybe he is only a Dj??? whatever, but here what he said "bersyukur kito sebab dipanjangkan umor dipanjangkn sehari lg, ado kawe2 kito umor dio pendek sehari dari kito"
Its funny but its true, (maybe only funny for me- I am always like this) What can 1 day do to change our fate in the hereafter? I would say a lot. Because, when we do 'amal, its not the quantity that matters but the quality,
from tafsir ibnu kathir:"(He may test you which of you is best in deed.) it means best in deeds. This is as Muhammad bin `Ajlan said. It should be noted that Allah did not say "which of you does the most deeds.'
Fudhail bin 'Iyadh commented on surah al_Mulk:2 " supaya dia menguji kamu, siapa di antara kamu yang lebih baik amalanya" " ahsanu 'amalan" here means the sincere and the accurate (aswabuh). When asked what is the meaning of this. He reply "verily when the 'amal is done with sincerity but without accuracy, it will not be accepted, and when being done accurately without sincerity, It will not be accepted. 'amal will not be accepted until its done with sincerity and accuracy. Making the 'amal merely for Allah is ikhlas, and the accurate is Sunnah Rasulullah saw".
_badly translated from malay_.
'

what a long introduction,sigh, back to the main point. I am here to introduce you a very interesting subject that I have learnt at Uia. Its called BTQ(basic themes al_Qur'an). I took this subject during my short semester, not to make you jealous but this is the only subject that I took that very semester, Can't believe it?? hahah.

This subject is discussing about the points or themes in Al-Qur'an which are very prominent.
The chapters are ( if none of it is missing from my note)

1. Al-HIDAYAH(GUIDANCE)
2.AL-"ILM
3.AL-INSAN WA AL-KHILAFAH (MAN AND VICEGERENCY )
4. 'IBADAH(WORSHIP)
5.AL-AKHLAAQ
6.VICES
a)Al-Kibr (pride)
b)Al-Ghibah (backbiting)-mengumpat
7. VIRTUES
8. ADAB OF SOCIALIZIBG BETWEEN MEN & WOMEN
9. SCIENCE AND ISLAM
10. RISE AND FALL OF CIVILIZATION IN AL-QUR'AN

hmm, so,all are there. Because I am taking short semester, so there are few topics that are withdrew from the actual module. I will try to include some additional comment to give more clarification. Oh, maybe the language is slightly too tough- I am too having difficulties with these all new terminology, once upon a time laa,. now, Alhamdulillah. So, be patience
My grammatical error? I will try to fix it..

By Shaykh
'Abdul-'Azeez Ibn Baaz
We must confront the intellectual onslaught represented in the radio,books,newspapers,magazines and writings which the Muslim communities in our
present time have been afflicted with. The Muslim male and female spend most of their time with such, despite the fact that they contain deadly poison and misleading propagation most of the time. Therefore confronting this is a very important issue if we want to protect Islaam and the Islamic culture
from its conspiracies and evil.
The da`ees and the defenders of Islaam must devote their time in writing beneficial
researches, articles, periodicals and give da`wah. They should respond to different
types of cultural attack and expose its defects and clarify its falseness. The enemies have gathered now and are preparing all their efforts and abilities to establish different organizations and various ways to scheme and plot against the Muslims and deceive them. Therefore we must counter attack these enemies. We must refute and disapprove of their networks, expose them, and present Islaam as a faith, belief, legal system and a social and moral system. This should be done in a way that will make the people learn it, through good methods suitable for the age, and with wisdom and good admonition, arguing in a way that is best. We should use all the methods of the media, according to the resources available and our ability.
The deen of Islaam is a complete deen, which contains all good. It is the source of happiness for all mankind, and helps us in achieving righteous prosperity, sound
progression, security, tranquillity and a noble life and victory in this life and in the Hereafter.

Courtesy Of: Islaam.com
Source: Words of Advice
Regarding Da`wah

Question and Answer
Details
Name of Questioner Salma
Title: Do Good and Evil Come
from Allah?
Date 19/Jan/2010

Question:
Hello. First I wish to thank you for this user-friendly and informative site. I
wish to ask about a point which has been bothering me recently and I hope that one of the counselors will be able to answer me in sha' Allah. In surat An-Nisaa' (Women), there is a verse that states that everything is from Allah, but the next verse states that when bad things happen, they are from us humans, but everything
good is from Allah. I can see the logic behind this and that there is no contradiction, but I just wish somebody knowledgeable will explain these verses further.

Topic Islamic Creed, WorldView
Name of Counselor: Shahul Hameed

Answer
Salam, Salma.
Thank you very much for your question and the good words you have spoken about the site. The question of destiny and freewill has been nagging humans all through the centuries; and each religion has attempted to answer the question in its own way.
Master or Puppet? The noble Qur'an enunciates the view that man is not completely a
master of his fate; nor is he a puppet in the hands of blind destiny. It is a fact
that Allah's sovereignty is all pervading and nothing falls outside its purview;
which is to say that Allah knows everything and things happen according to His Will.
The whole of creation i.e. all the things and beings in the universe are subject to the overriding power of Allah, and we humans can do nothing without Allah willing it to be so. Allah says in the noble Qur'an what gives the meaning of:

*{He created everything for its destiny (or its measure) }*
(Al-Furqan25: 2)

*{We created everything according to a measure or destiny.}*
(Al-Qamar 54:9)

In both the above verses"destiny" implies the latent capabilities of things. But this is not to say that Allah created a universe finished and complete, bound to the iron rules of nature. On the contrary, it means only that the creation of this
universe was in accordance with the grand design of the Creator. Well-Designed and
Well-Planned There is no element of chance in the creation of this universe. Everything is well-designed and well- planned. And Allah has a foreknowledge of
everything that He created. But this does not imply that human beings have been completely deprived of the freedom of action. The foreknowledge of Allah is different from predestination. Otherwise, man will not have any freedom of will or action; and what is more, Allah Himself is then made to be inactive, as things happen according to what people call predestination. But the glorious Qur'an clearly says that Allah is constantly active in creation. Allah Almighty says what means:

*{Allah. There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting,Supporter of all. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. Hisare all things in the heavens and on earth.Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permits? He knows what (appears to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He wills. His Throne does extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. For He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).}*
(Al-Baqarah 2: 255)

We may understand Allah's knowledge to be a living creative activity, which includes His fore- knowledge of events to come. The future may be conceived as an open possibility that pre-exists to be realized. This means that destiny as conceived by Islam does not negate our freedom of choice and action. A Limited Freedom Out of a set of inherent possibilities, we can make a free choice of those
actions that are in harmony with Allah's Will; if so, we earn our reward from Allah. Thus from the point of view of Islam, humanity is free (in a limited sense) for all practical purposes, and has no excuse for making the wrong choice in the name of fate. The Qur'anic view of humans is that they have a natural inclination to all that is good; but as we are given freedom of choice, we may choose evil against our natural tendency towards good. About divine guidance, Allah says what can be translated as:

*{It is the truth from your Lord; wherefore let him who will,believe,and let him who will,disbelieve.}*
(Al-Kahf 18:29)

Again we read:

*{Indeed Allah does not wrong the people at all, it is they wrong their own selves.}*
(Yunus 10: 44)
And:

*{There is no compulsion in religion. Surely the right way has become distinct from error. }*
(Al-Baqarah 2: 256)

The particular Qur'anic verses you have referred to in your question should be studied against the foregoing background.

*{….. If some good befalls them, they say, "This is from Allah.; but if evil, they say, "This is from thee" (O Prophet). Say: "All things are from Allah." But what hath come to these people, that they fail to understand a single fact? Whatever good happens to thee is from God; and whatever evil befalls thee is from thyself…}*
An- Nisaa' 4:78-79)

Good and Bad: From Allah's Will First, it is mentioned that all things are from Allah; and then it is stated that good happenings come from Allah and evil happenings come from humans. If we look for the correct interpretation of the verses above, we can see that there is no contradiction there. In fact, Allah Almighty is the ultimate source of all that is happening. Consequently, all good
that comes to man and all evil that befalls him flow originally from Allah's will: that is, everything is from Allah. And when man uses his freewill and makes a wrong choice out of several available options, evil follows. And we should remember that evil is the absence of good; or its opposite that follows a wrong choice by man. Thus it is true that evil happenings come from man. It is also possible that what appears to be evil may very well turn out to be good in the end. In such cases evil is no more than a means of spiritual growth for man, and need not necessarily be
"evil" in reality. And remember that:

*{Allah does not wrong anyone by as much as at atom's weight.}*
(An-Nisaa' 4:40)

We can also view the whole matter from a different angle as well. Everything is from Allah; and so we are from Allah. Evil is from us ourselves; but since we are from Allah, the evil that comes from us can also be attributed to the original
source of all, namely Allah Almighty. So there is absolutely no contradiction in the
verses you referred to. The Qur'anic concept of destiny includes the ideas of measurement, proportion, guidance and the completion of the creative process. We may
say that it is the Law of Allah operating in the whole of His creation, including man. In the case of humanity, the Divine Law includes the idea of freewill too. Allah has created everything with a purpose, a purpose that is attained by the
completion of the process of creation. In this scheme, humanity alone has a unique status as people can exercise freewill, where "evil" has a significant role along
with good.

within our life, there are things that we can control, and things that we cant. Things that we can control is the one that we can decide. However the extent of the decision itself is limited or beyond our control i.e like an objective answer paper that only have A,B,C, n D. We only responsible to what we decide, we cant create an event, but we can choose the path to that event. For the things that are beyond our control, we should never worried nor we should be sad. Because, Allah planned the best for us, and if he try us with trial its the one that we can handle. If it is the things that we decide by our self, we may contemplate on the consequences and try to seek improvement. I believe, after we choose the most worst decision, what happen next is the most best event that may happen as the consequence of our decision.

do u think you are smart? Or talented?. Do you aware that each and every nikmah that Allah give, will be asked what you do with them.wether for fisabilillah or to do mischeive or being a vanglorius boaster.what has given to you is a rensponsibilites, not a thing to be boastful of. It is like a rich people, they will be late for paradise because the wealth that were placed by Allah in their hand during their life time. For me, it also apply to knowledge, healthy body, time, as all of these are more valuable than material wealth. Because of that, scholar would be among those who will be tormented severely if he hide the truth while he possesed the knowledge.the value of a person, lies not in his tremendous knowledge but his effort to emerge the knowledge into practicality. The reality that we need to digest is that time is life. Do you can buy ur life like a prepaid topup? No one will be given a second chance.this world is the place to beg, to ask forgiveness,to believe, there is no more deed will be accounted except for 3 things when soul is taken away from the body.wallahua'lam. May Allah protect my heart and your heart from kibr.ameen

One of the most prominent distinguishing features of the Muslim woman is her deep faith in Allah ta ’ala (the Exalted) and her sincere conviction that whatever happens through the will and decree of Allah; whatever befalls a person could not have been avoided, and whatever does not happen to a person could not have been made to happen. A person has no choice in this life but to strive towards the right path and to do good deeds – acts of worship and other acts – submitting to His will, and believing that he is always in need of Allah ’s help and support. The story of Haajar (Propet Ibraheem ’s wife) offers the Muslim woman the most marvelous
example of deep faith in Allah and sincere trust in Him. The Prophet Ibraheem (Abraham) a.s. (may peace be upon him) left her at the Ka ’bah in Makkah, above the well of Zamzam, at a time when there were no people and no water in the place. Haajar had no one with her except her infant son Isma ’eel (Ishmael). She asked Ibraheem, calmly and with no trace of panic: “Ha Allah commanded you to do this, O ’ Ibraheem?” Prophet Ibraheem a.s. said, “Yes.” Her responds reflected her acceptance and optimism: “ Then He is not going to abndon us.” Reported by Bukhari in Kitab al-Anbiya. [1]
Here was an extremely difficult situation: a man left wife and infant son in barren land, where there were no plants, no water, and no people, and went back to the distant land of Palestine. He left nothing with her but a sack of dates and skin filled with water. Were it not for the deep faith and trust in Allah that filled
Haajar ’s heart, she would not have been able to cope with such a difficult situation; she would have collapsed straight away, and would not have become the woman whose name is forever remembered day and night by those who perform Hajj and ‘Umrah at the house of Allah, every time they drink the pure water of Zamzam, and
run between the mounts of Safa and Marwah, as Haajar did on that most tiring day.
This deep faith and awareness had an amazing effect on the lives of Muslim men and
women: it awoke their conscience and reminded them that Allah ta ’ala witnesses and
knows every secret, and that He is with a person wherever he may be. Nothing gives a
clearer idea of the consciousness and fear of Allah at all times than the story of the young Muslim girl related in Sifat as-Safwah and Wafiyat al- A ’yaan, and
cited by Ibn al- Jawzi in Ahkaam an-Nisaa ’ (pp. 441,442):
“Narrated ‘Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father, from his grandfather,
who said: ‘When I was accompanying ‘ Umar ibn al- Khattab r.a. (may Allah be pleased with him) on his patrol of Madeenah at night, he felt tired, so he leant against a wall. It was the middle of the night, and (we heard) a woman say to her daughter, ‘ O’ my daughter, get up mix that milk with some water. ’ The girl said, ‘O’Mother, did you not hear the decree of Ameer al- Mu ’mineen (chief of the
believers – the caliph) today?’ The mother said, ‘What was that?’ The girl said, ‘He ordered someone to announce in a loud voice that milk should not be mixed with water.’ The mother said, ‘ Get up and mix the milk with water; you are in a place
where ‘Umar cannot see you.’ The girl told her mother, ‘I cannot obey him in public and disobey him in private. ’ ‘Umar heard this, and told me: ‘O’ Aslam, go to that place and see who that girl is, and to whom she was speaking, and whether she has a
husband. ’ So I went to that place, and I saw that she was unmarried, the other woman was her mother, and neither of them had a husband. I came to ‘Umar and told him what I had found out. He called his sons together, and said to them: ‘Do any of you need a wife, so I can arrange the marriage for you? If I had the desire to get married, I would have been the first one to marry this young woman. ’ ‘Abdullah said: ‘I have a wife.’ ‘AbdulRahmaan said: ‘I have a wife.’ ‘Asim said: ‘I do not have a wife, so let me marry her. ’ So ‘Umar arranged for her to be married to ‘ Asim. She gave him a daughter, who grew up to be the mother of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Aziz.’’” This is the deep sense of awareness that Islam had implanted in the
heart of this young woman. She was righteous and upright in all her deeds, both in public and in private, because she believed that Allah ta ’ala was with her at all times and saw and heard everything. This is true faith, and these are the effects of that faith, which raised her to the level of ihsaan (excellence). One of the
immediate rewards with which Allah honoured her was this blessed marriage, one of whose descendants was the faith rightly-guided khaleefah, ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Aziz r.a. . The ‘Aqeedah (faith) of the true Muslim woman is pure and clear, uncontaminated by any stain of ignorance, illusion or superstition. This ‘Aqeedah is
based on faith in Allah, the One, the Most High, the Eternal, Who is able to do all things, Who is in control of the entire universe, and to Whom all things must return:
“Say: ‘Who is it in Whose hands is the governance of all things – Who protects [all], but is not protected [by any]? [Say] if you know. ’ They will say, ‘[It belongs] toAllah, ’ Say: ‘Then how are you deluded?”’
(Qur’an 23: 88-89)
This is the pure, deep faith which increases the character of the Muslim woman in
strength, understanding and maturity, so that she sees life as it really is, which is a place of testing whose results will be seen on the Day which will undoubtedly come:
“Say: ‘It is Allah Who gives you life, then gives you death; then He will gather you together for the Day of Judgement about which there is no doubt ’: but
most men do not understand. ” (Qur’an 45: 26)
“Did you think that We had created you in jest, and that you would not be brought back to Us [for account ]?”
(Qur’an 23: 115)
“Blessed is He in Whose hands is Dominion; and He over all things has Power – He
Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed; and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft- Forgiving. ”
(Qur’an 67: 1-2)
On that Day, man will be brought to account for his deeds. If they are good, it will be good for him, and if they are bad, it will be bad for him. There will not
be the slightest injustice:
“That Day will every soul be requited for what it earned; no injustice will there be that Day, for Allah is Swift in taking account. ”
(Qur’an 40: 17)
The Balance (in which man ’s deeds will be weighed) will measure everything with the utmost precision, either in a person’s favour or against him: “Then shall
anyone who has done an atom ’s weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done
an atom ’s weight of evil, shall see it. ”
(Qur’an 99: 7-8)
Nothing could be hidden from the Lord of Glory on that Day, not even if it were as insignificant as a grain of mustard seed:
“We shall set up scales of justice for the day of Judgement, so that not a soul will
be dealt with unjustly in the least. And if there be [no more than] the weight of a
mustard seed, We will bring it [to account]: and enough are We to take account. ”
(Qur’an 21: 47)
No doubt that the true Muslim woman, when she ponders the meaning of these verses,
would think about that crucial Day and would turn to her Lord (Allah) in obedience,
repentance and gratitude, seeking to do as many righteous deeds as she is able, in
preparation for the Hereafter.

(source : The Ideal Muslimah,
by Dr. Muhammad ‘Ali al-Hashimi…
translated by Nasiruddin al- Khattab …
publisher: IIPH,
Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia)