January – 2006 – Ilm Fruits

Monthly Archives: January 2006

Perfect Happiness Doesn’t Exist

January 20, 2006 – 10:31 pm

All people on Earth seek happiness–whether it’s through wealth, or love, or piety. Few realize that perfect happiness does not exist in the dunya.

When you think about it, you’ll find that hardship and pain exist with moments of great happiness. For example, you ate your favourite meal after a long time, but you feel over-full and you become tired and lazy. Or, you enjoy a wonderful hike through the woods, minus the insect bites and that bee that flew into your ear.

So be aware, and aim for higher then dunya happiness.

This is a mercy of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). If you found the perfect happiness, and subhanallah, someone talked to you about paradise, you might say “who cares? I’ve found the perfect happiness here.”

True happiness exists only in Jannah.

May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) unite us all in Jannah and grant us all al-Firdaus, out of His mercy.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Gems, Islam, Tazkiyyah | Comments (2)

Never Label

January 17, 2006 – 7:45 pm

Never label. Human beings are not two-dimensional that you can slap a label onto them and classify them.

One of the best ways to destroy ties between people, groups, and organizations is to label them. Even if they deserve it, don’t do it.

When you find yourself applying a label to someone, ask yourself: Will this action please Allah (سبحانه وتعالى)?

When you find others who label, back away. You don’t want to involve yourself with people like that.
During the time of ‘Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, the dissenters labeled him. They said “‘Uthman doesn’t follow the sunnah,” a common label we find today. And what happened? It culmulated with his death.

May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) protect us from destroying each other, intentionally or unintentionally, ameen.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Gems, Islam, Islamic Work, Sahaba | Comments (0)

Business Tactic: The Trench Rush

January 17, 2006 – 7:39 pm

In one of the battles in the time of the Khulafa Rashideen, the Muslim armies attacked a fort behind a trench.

With a trench, defenses spread thin: 500 people need to guard all points of the trench. So in any given area, you have only a few guards.

How did the Muslims succeed? They find the one lazy guy–if the trench is eight feet deep and six feet across, they find the location two feet deep and one foot across–and focus the entire army towards that one location, all the hundreds or thousands of mujahideen.

Three men cannot stand up to that kind of onslaught.

The “cut-throat corporate world” employs this technique as well. Learn from it. Benefit from it.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Islam, Islamic Work, Sahaba | Comments (0)

Execute Ideas Without Perfection

January 17, 2006 – 7:34 pm

If you have an idea, execute it, even if it won’t turn out perfect.

Ihsaan is not perfection, it’s excellence. Strive your best, but tolerate mistakes as well. Only Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) is perfect.

Don’t be like the shopkeeper who keeps the door to his shop closed all the time in order to keep it clean. No customers enter. If you’re always closed and looking for perfection, you’ll shut down.

When in doubt, kick-start your project as “Version 1.0″ and build on it.

I ask Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) to help us all execute our projects to bring benefit to the people, ameen.

Learn Pronounciation in Surah Faitha

January 16, 2006 – 10:12 pm

Surah Fatiha contains almost all the Arabic letters that the English language lacks: ‘Ayn (ع), Saad (ص), Daad (ض), Taw (ط), Qaf (ق), and 7a (ح). Once you learn to pronounce these letters correctly, you practice them 17 times a day, every day, in every state of mind. Bi ithnillah, once you learn them, practice, and you will master them quickly.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Arabic, Islam, Tajweed, Tazkiyyah | Comments (0)

Tajweed Review Website

January 16, 2006 – 10:02 pm

If you know your tajweed (Qur’anic rules of beautifying recitation) but feel a bit rusty or need to review them, this website explains it very well. The website helps more if you already know tajweed but need a refresher. It’s very difficult to learn tajweed without a real, human teacher.

May Allah accept our reading of the Qur’an as ‘ibadah. Ameen.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Arabic, Islam, Links, Tajweed, Tazkiyyah | Comments (1)

Etiquettes and Adab of Du’a (Supplication)

January 16, 2006 – 9:48 pm

Learn all about the etiquettes and adab of du’a here. Highlights include:

Make du’a at times of trouble and of joy.
Repeat the du’a three times
Make du’a in a moderately low voice

And remember, with du’a, three things can occur:

Allah can accept your du’a! Alhamdullilah.
Allah will save it for you until the akhira.
Allah will avert evil from you.

In any case, you benefit. Alhamdullilah.

References

“Etiquettes and Adab of Du’a.” Mutma’inaa. 2004. 16 Jan. 2006 <http://www.geocities.com/mutmainaa/dua1/dua_manner.html>.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Islam, Links, Tazkiyyah | Comments (0)

Learn Arabic from the Qur’an

January 15, 2006 – 8:51 pm

One way to learn Arabic is to memorize the Qur’an with a word-by-word translation.

emuslim.com provides such a tool. Once you memorize a few (approximately 20-30) verses, you’ll find that other verses become decipherable, and familiar words leap at you everywhere you turn.

I recommend this method to everyone–for some, it’s the only way to memorize Qur’an.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Arabic, Links, Tazkiyyah | Comments (0)

Lessons in Arabic Language

January 15, 2006 – 8:47 pm

Islamic-Knowledge.com’s Lessons in Arabic Language website provides an online self-paced course for people to learn Arabic, in Arabic. It follows the famous three Medina Arabic books page by page, and displays translations and transliterations for every word used.

Unlike other online courses, this course teaches entirely in Arabic (minus the transliteration), similar to the way they teach Arabic at Al-Medina university. Although more difficult to learn than an English course, it forces the reader to think in Arabic, an advantage not offered by many other courses.

MadinahArabic.com: Open the Portal to Learning Arabic

January 14, 2006 – 11:38 pm

MadinahArabic.com teaches Arabic in the style of the Madinah Book Series, used to teach Arabic at Al-Medina university. The series style caters to English-speakers. The website follows a similar teaching paradigm.

The course walks you through the process step by step. They seperate the material into two sections: Arabic Reading Course, which teaches letters, and Arabic Language Course, which teaches grammar and vocabulary.

The course offers a self-paced and comprehensive approach. They provide new sections every few months. If you can read and pronounce your letters properly, I recommend you try the online courses.

By Ilm Seeker | Posted in Arabic, Links, Tazkiyyah | Comments (2)

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