"We human beings having a God complex"
-Our teacher Imam Amin Muhammad

As I stood in the elevator awaiting the 4th floor where my Aqueedah class takes place I prayed to God "Oh God give me something to take with me". All praise is due to God, who answers our prayers, Imam Amin said something that I hope will stick with me and help me to submit to the will of God for the rest of my life. Injustice, he explained, has to do with someone doing to someone else's property what they don't want you to do. God could never be called unjust because everything belongs to Him. Glory to God! Just the day before I was explaining to a non Muslim how God's tie to us is greater then our ties to each other. Somehow the true meaning of that statement was brought to me with Imam Amin's words. When people complain to or about God what are they (we) really saying? "Oh God how could you take my mother away?" God is the one who created your mother, and God is the one who created her sustenance, and God is the one who gave her the ability to carry you, and the ability to birth you, and the ability to care for you, and she was eternally in His favor as He did everything for her. And He is the one who put in your heart a love for her and He is the one who you and her are indebted to for every moment of breath and heartbeat, so who is it that has more right to decide what to do with her? And what to do with you? When He is the one who creates every moment and thing that exist, and He does this with Wisdom and He is the Most Merciful and Compassionate. So who has more right to decide what to do with His property?
Know this before it is completely apparent. Allah has the ultimate power over his creation, and He is unjust to none. And how can He be unjust when everything belongs to Him?

Becoming Imam Amin

When I ask to do the teacher spotlight on Imam Amin I was told that he “kept things pretty close to the chest” and may not be receptive to the idea, I prepared myself for rejection. Imam Amin responded to the idea with an unenthusiastic “Sure, why not?” as if our anxiety had been unwarranted. There is always wonder at the converts story. How someone leaves their faith and enters in to another is an impassioned journey, highly emotional and often misunderstood by those around them. What’s more then that is entering the faith and becoming one of its elites. Anyone who ever comes to Mecca Center knows Imam Amin. His classes and lectures are often filled with students seeking knowledge of their religion. Many people will find Imam Amin not only as a teacher of immense intelligence and wisdom but often a sincere advisor.

Sitting in Imam Amin’s last day of hadith class I could sense the students hesitation to leave. When the time for class ended Imam Amin gave his departing words, heroically he ended the last class with the quintessential hadith of Gabriel. “Hadith Gabriel is the summary of our religion, it is to hadith what The Opening is to the Quran, it is the mother of hadith”, he relates. Imam Amin smiles as he continues to explain the hadith “I actually didn’t plan this ending”.

I wondered if he would say the same thing about his life? As a man born into non-religious family, he was now standing before a class of both converts and born- Muslims explaining to them the basics of their religion. Imam Amin was born in in the 1970’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey. At the age of 10 he joined an organization called ‘AnsarAllah’ until entering orthodox Islam at the age of 17. He says of the group in retrospect, “They had some positive things as far as social movement and other cultural stuff but as far the tenets of Islamic faith… they were misguided in many of their beliefs…” At the time many is his community had taken to Islam, so there was no backlash from peers about his conversion, but his parents weren’t as accepting, he recalls, “They weren’t supportive, they really weren’t… it took them probably eight yeas before they began to accept”. As a youth he remembers seeing his parents frustrations as a sign that he was on the right path, he says of his young self “Actual I think I was a little bit too enthused if I could go back today I would correct a lot of things”

            At the age of seventeen he started studying the basics of Islam with a local Indian Imam, they spent about 6 months together. Being an avid reader this traditional method of “Qira’a” translated in English to “reading on the teacher” greatly appealed to him, at the age of 19 he left his home to attend Al Azhaar in Egypt. He attended school there until being advised to study privately. “I would have classes in the morning I studied Arabic then I would go in the afternoon… I would get lessons in the Mosque… it was much better then going to school…I started travelling from Lebanon to Syria…it was better… I would be going for specific things… to see a specific teacher for a specific time.” Worldly pursuits through religious knowledge were far from his ambitions. He returned home to America working in construction and studying by night. “Our teachers never taught us to take religion as an occupation”, for 10 years he learned with Walid al Risa’I and Shaykh Al- Ashi, in the summers he would visit various countries.

He was soon called to be Imam of Masjid Muhammad, the community had been an offshoot of another pseudo Islamic movement, Imam Amin soon removed all traces of anything that wasn’t Sunni Islam. He faced tension from the community and some members left. It would not be the first or last time the Imam faced criticism for his adherence to the tradition. On one of his Sheikhs visit to America some of his students complained about Imam Amin, “he’s rough on everybody”, his Sheikh approached him about the complaints. He sat him down and showed him some videos, which he’d previously, criticized, “yes, you should criticize them about this” his Sheikh responded.

Perhaps Imam Amin is both famous and infamous for his adherence to traditional Islam, perhaps it is the source of both love and disdain. Nevertheless it is his love for traditional Islam that drove him to Mecca for six years without recompense. Back and forth from Atlantic City to New York, mile after mile for nothing except the love of Islam, for no other reason then the pleasure of Allah. It was at the age of 27 that he knew the call to traditional Islam was his purpose in life “I really realized… after 10 years from my pursuit of study I think that at that point I realized that my job is to call people to Allah… from that point on that’s what I dedicated my life to… about fifteen year ago I said this is what I want to do… full time this is my life… from that point on I’ve been really engaged in the pursuit of knowledge and the spreading of it”

After Imam Amin became the Imam of Masjid Muhammad it became not only a place for Friday gathering, it also become a place of Islamic learning. It was this Masjid that would be the source of his tears as he stared upon its broken roof and bare floors; it was torn apart by the waters of Hurricane Sandy. “I was hurt… I realized everything is according to the divine decree of Allah for a wisdom He knows”. It seems difficult to gage Imam Amin’s sadness over his complete contentment with divine decree, “(it) feels like Allah has given you another opportunity to build a place of worship, a Masjid and a place of learning that people would benefit… (it) gives you the opportunity to be at the forefront of building His religion”.

I’ve never been to a class or lecture of Imam Amin where he didn’t stress the importance of orthodox Islam, whether Islamic beliefs, Islamic law, Prophetic Biography, Hadith, Explanation of the Quran or Spiritual purification he’d always spend a portion of class time on the significance of following “Ahl Sunna wal Jamaa’a”. Translated in English as the following of the prophetic way and the majority of Muslims both past and present, this seemed to be the main point of each class he teaches, no matter the topic, this was his message. “If one becomes engrossed in studying and one has a love for Islamic knowledge and one has a love for the people of knowledge then what your going to do is emulate them until one day Insha Allah you will become like them or similar to them in your action and behavior which is a natural progression…”

Imam teaches classes on Sundays at the Mecca Center from11am- 5pm. To donate to Masjid Muhammad please visit: http://www.mmacinc.org/donate

"Be careful lest in fighting a monster, you become one"
-Sheikh Hamza Yusuf quoting a German philosopher

Whenever 'Aisha (the wife of the Prophet) heard anything which she did not understand, she used to ask again till she understood it completely.

"Anyone who compares himself to the people becomes either vain or bitter, a person who compares himself to the Anbiya and the awliya his heart will be purified"
-Sheik Nuh

Bukhari :: Book 1 :: Volume 1 :: Hadith 3

Narrated 'Aisha:

(the mother of the faithful believers) The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's Apostle was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright day light, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food like-wise again till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read.

The Prophet added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists) has created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous." (96.1, 96.2, 96.3) Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration and with his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that something may happen to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your Kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones."

Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufal bin Asad bin 'Abdul 'Uzza, who, during the PreIslamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqa, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqa asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" Allah's Apostle described whatever he had seen. Waraqa said, "This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while.

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah Al-Ansari while talking about the period of pause in revelation reporting the speech of the Prophet "While I was walking, all of a sudden I heard a voice from the sky. I looked up and saw the same angel who had visited me at the cave of Hira' sitting on a chair between the sky and the earth. I got afraid of him and came back home and said, 'Wrap me (in blankets).' And then Allah revealed the following Holy Verses (of Quran):

'O you (i.e. Muhammad)! wrapped up in garments!' Arise and warn (the people against Allah's Punishment),... up to 'and desert the idols.' (74.1-5) After this the revelation started coming strongly, frequently and regularly."

"I am your mother too"

-Ayesha, may God be pleased with her
Muslim, 3, 684

Narrated Aisha:

The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age

"Everybody is here voluntarily and if everybody left tomorrow it wouldn't diminish things in the slightest -for myself, because my intention was that everyone would be guided to the end of the tariq so I already have the (reward) for my intention. Whether or not anyone comes we've still set up our lemonade stand, here it is"
-Sheikh Nuh Keller

Advice from Sheikh Muhammad Amin

Advice from Sheikh Muhammad Amin

-Translated by Umm Sahl (7/18/2012)

Have correct aqueedah (tenets of faith, i.e. believing God is without partner, believing he is not restricted in a time or place, believing he has power of all things, etc.)

Make repentance of sin then don’t ever go back to it

Please the person who is opposed to you, so that no one has any rights over you (or against you?)

Catch up with miss prayers or others things you owe Allah

Avoid all disobedience to Allah, perform acts of worship purely without other objectives

Don’t sleep long in the night; it will have you impoverished on the Day of Judgment

Fear Allah anywhere, at all times

Follow up a bad deed with a good deed

Engage with other people in good character

Don’t be with someone except that they benefit you religion or your dunya (worldly life)

Don’t keep the company except of someone who is God fearing and keeps their promises

Don’t argue with people about any issue except someone who is willing to accept the truth

Don’t engage yourself with answering a question from an unintelligent person

Speak nicely to one who speaks ugly to you

Keep ties with the person who cut you off

Forgive the one who wrongs you

Give to the one who has deprived you

Avert bad actions with good

Don’t gather more of the dunya then you would need for a year (i.e. food, clothing, saving, etc.)

Don’t engage yourself in seeking knowledge in other then what you’re already doing unless it will fix your heart and purify you

Don’t regard yourself superior because your end is unknown

The most superior is to keep far from doubtful matters

Be avid to follow the sunnah (way of Prophet Muhammad (God’s peace and blessings be upon him), his sayings, actions, life, what he agreed with or keep silent about, etc.) and not your own nafs (lower self)

If getting married will cause you to stray from the path, forgo this sunna. If your marriage is not facilitating your islam, perform the makruh (divorce). If having children will keep you away from Allah, abstain. For nothing is more important then worshipping Allah, this is an obligation to engage in the sunna and bypass the obligatory is a flaw. Everything is a means towards Allah. And if it is not helping you, you should let it go.

The best medicine is happiness and the most enduring happiness is a heart that is filled with Allah (Glory be to Him).

-Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller

God will try you in ways you cannot imagine, the only way to be prepared is to call Him in ease so he'll hear you in difficulty

It's only when you die that you realize all you had in life was your relationship with God, it's the only one that lasts through all life spans -whether good or bad

The believers should be extremist -extreme in their love for God, extreme in adherence to their obligations and extreme in their moving towards him... until they have no concern but Him

Allah! Allah!

Our beloved prophet, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, said:  

Allah revealed to my dear brother Uzair, "Oh Uzair! If a calamity befalls you, do not complain to my creation (to the people). How much wrong you have done to me and I never complained to my angels (about you). Oh Uzair! Disobey me as much as you can bear my punishment, and ask me your needs according to your good deeds towards me, and never feel secure of my decision (punishment) until you enter my paradise. Then Uzair started shaking and crying. So Allah revealed to him "if you disobey me out of ignorance, I forgive you out of my mercy, because I am generous and don't wish to punish my creation, as I am the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." (Hadith Qudsi)

Do whatever you want, say whatever you want, be whoever you want, just follow the law of God and you'll be successful

Imam Ghazālī woke up one early morning and as usual offered his prayers and then inquired what day it was, his younger brother, Ahmad Ghazālī replied, ”Monday.” He asked him to bring his white shroud, kissed it, stretched himself full length and saying “Lord, I obey willingly,” breathed his last.

And underneath his head rest they found the following verses; composed by him, probably, during the night:

“Say to my friends, when they look upon me, dead
Weeping for me and mourning me in sorrow
Do not believe that this corpse you see is myself
In the name of God, I tell you, it is not I,
I am a spirit, and this is naught but flesh
It was my abode and my garment for a time.
I am a treasure, by a talisman kept hid,
Fashioned of dust, which served me as a shrine,
I am a pearl, which has left it’s shell deserted,
I am a bird, and this body was my cage
Whence I have now floron forth and it is left as a token
Praise to God, who hath now set me free
And prepared for me my place in the highest of the heaven,
Until today I was dead, though alive in your midst.
Now I live in truth, with the grave – clothes discarded.
Today I hold converse with the saints above,
With no veil between, I see God face to face.
I look upon “Loh-i-Mahfuz” and there in I read
Whatever was and is and all that is to be.
Let my house fall in ruins, lay my cage in the ground,
Cast away the talisman, it is a token, no more
Lay aside my cloak, it was but my outer garment.
Place them all in the grave, let them be forgotten,
I have passed on my way and you are left behind
Your place of abode was no deweling place for me.
Think not that death is death, nay, it is life,
A life that surpasses all we could dream of here,
While in this world, here we are granted sleep,
Death is but sleep, sleep that shall be prolonged
Be not frightened when death draweth night,
It is but the departure for this blessed home
Think of the mercy and love of your Lord,
Give thanks for His Grace and come without fear.
What I am now, even so shall you be
For I know that you are even as I am
The souls of all men come forth from God
The bodies of all are compounded alike
Good and evil, alike it was ours
I give you now a message of good cheer
May God’s peace and joy for evermore be yours.”

I think and I feel

I don’t remember what point a colleague of mine was making when he said something to the effect that we should “put aside our emotions and deal with the facts” to which my teacher retorted, “I believe emotions inform”. This may be the most brilliant statement she has said thus far. The statement itself is really a summary of many of the things she’s said in class. I love this class and fortunately it has given me an opportunity to broaden my view of feminism and actually find myself nodding in agreement in many instances. The idea that “logic” and “emotion” can coexist on equal terms is what I hope we as women can begin to strive for in feminism and in life.

The struggle of old school feminism was to basically say, “I want what they have”. A striving for equality and power which we have been given in many ways –more women are working and receiving higher levels of education, but what I think we did not realize is that competing with our male counterparts and succeeding on their level may have brought us superficial equality and power but it has not brought us respect.

Firstly it caused a large segment of women to abandon characteristically feminine roles and take on traditionally masculine roles, essentially saying to men “You know what you’re right, you are better them me”. In that way we gave men the permission to further degrade our tradition roles in hopes of gaining power and equality. But in our entering the work place we found ourselves again subordinated to men whether through being given menial jobs, lower pay or never breaking the glass ceiling. Worse then this most women were not relieved of their traditional roles at home, if they still chose to have a family, men still do little house work and women are still the primary care givers. So we found ourselves essentially overburdened and still searching for power and equality in a man’s world.

We have yet to deal with the underlining issue that women continuously face whether in a male dominated work world on in the feminine domestic sphere. The essential issue is the very core of male- female relations; men simply don’t value women or characteristically feminine roles, ideas, behaviors, attitudes, etc. Men in any field will never respect women if men simply don’t respect women in a larger more general sense. And women only further push the idea of inferiority when we dress up in men’s suits and sit in meeting were we silence any thought that is remotely feminine. I am being purposefully stereotypical in order to deal with the bigger picture; in general women are more talkative, nurturing and emotional then men. Men on the other hand are more logical, physically stronger and one- task oriented (men are usually poor at multitasking). But what makes being logical inherently better then being emotional? I would argue, absolutely nothing. As my teacher beautifully said, “emotion informs”.

This reminds me of the famous story of the Messenger of God, peace upon him, after giving his army a command to shave their heads (I’m cutting out most of the story to make a particular related point) they all disobeyed. Not knowing what to do he went to his tent and told his wife , Umm Salama, she then told him, peace upon him, to shave his on head. He listened to her and the companions followed suit. Logically the companions should have jumped to listen to any command of the Prophet, peace upon him, but emotionally these were trying times. Umm Salama informed her husband through emotion not logic. When the companions felt the command over simply hearing if they were moved to action.

When women are respected simply for being women and for contributing in a unique way in society we will be respected in all parts of society. But until we pride ourselves in our femininity we can never look forward to a society where we are equally valued as our male counterparts.*

*Note: Obviously some women are not stereotypical feminine nor are some men stereotypically masculine. Which argues the larger part that people should be accepted for their contributions as individual human beings that have something unique and purposeful to offer to the world. I am of course not including the sin of women making a point to act like men (i.e. imitating a masculine voice) or men acting like women (i.e. speaking in a feminine voice) this is an entirely different issue. I would rather point to someone like Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, who never bore children, lead and army, and was a great woman of knowledge or men like Imam An Nawawi, may Allah give him mercy, who lived as an ascetic, never married and also dedicated his life to knowledge.

The Rabb of the boy

Suhaib (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "There lived a king before you and he had a court magician. As he (the magician) grew old, he said to the king: `I have grown old, so send me a young boy in order to teach him magic.' The king sent him a young boy to serve the purpose. And on his way (to the magician) the young boy met a monk to whom he listened to and liked it. It became his habit that on his way to the magician, he would meet the monk and sit there and would come to the magician (late). The magician used to beat him because of this delay. He complained about this to the monk who said to him: 'When you feel afraid of the magician, say: Members of my family detained me. And when you fear your family, say: The magician detained me.' It so happened that there came a huge beast and it blocked the way of the people, and the young boy said: 'I will know today whether the magician or the monk is better.' He picked up a stone and said: `O Allah, if the way of the monk is dearer to You than the way of the magician, bring about death to the animal so that the people be able to move about freely.' He threw that stone at it and killed it and the people began to move about freely. He then came to the monk and told him the story. The monk said: `Son, today you are superior to me. You have come to a stage where I feel that you would be soon put to a trial, and in case you are put to a trial, do not reveal me.' That young boy began to heal those born blind and the lepers and he, in fact, began to cure people from all kinds of illnesses.  a courtier of the king who had gone blind heard about him, he came to him with numerous gifts and said, `If you cure me, all these things will be yours.' He said, `I myself do not cure anyone. It is Allah, the Exalted, Alone Who cures; and if you affirm faith in Allah, I shall also supplicate to Allah to cure you.' This courtier affirmed his faith in Allah and Allah cured him. He came to the king and sat by his side as he used to sit before. The king said to him, `Who restored your eyesight?' He said, `My Rubb.' Thereupon he said, 'Do you have another lord besides me?' He said, `My Rubb and your Rubb is Allah.' So the king kept torturing him untill he revealed the young boy. The young boy was thus summoned and the king said to him, 'O boy, it has been conveyed to me that you have become so much proficient in your magic that you cure the blind and the lepers and you do such and such.' Thereupon he said, `I do not cure anyone; it is Allah Alone Who cures,' and the king took hold of him and began to torture him until he revealed of the monk. The monk was summoned and it was said to him: `You should turn back from your religion.' But he refused. The king sent for a saw, placed it in the middle of his head and cut him into two parts that fell down. Then the courtier of the king was brought forward and it was said to him: `Turn back from your religion.' He, too, refused, and the saw was placed in the midst of his head and he was torn into two parts. Then the boy was sent for and it was said to him: `Turn back from your religion.' He refused. The king then handed him over to a group of his courtiers, and said to them: `Take him to such and such mountain; make him climb up that mountain and when you reach its peak ask him to renounce his Faith. If he refuses to do so, push him to his death.' So they took him and made him climb up the mountain and he said: `O Allah, save me from them in any way you like,' and the mountain began to shake and they all fell down (dead) and that young boy came walking to the king. The king said to him, `What happened to your companions?' He said, `Allah has saved me from them.' He again handed him to some of his courtiers and said: `Take him and carry him in a boat and when you reach the middle of the sea, ask him to renounce his religion. If he does not renounce his religion throw him (into the water).' So they took him and he said: `O Allah, save me from them.' The boat turned upside down and they all drowned except the young boy who came walking to the king. The king said to him, `What happened to your companions?' He said, `Allah has saved me from them,' and he said to the king: `You cannot kill me until you do what I command you to do.' The king asked, `What is that?' He said, `Gather all people in one place and tie me up to the trunk of a tree, then take an arrow from my quiver and say: With the Name of Allah, the Rubb of the boy; then shoot me. If you do that you will be able to kill me.' `The king called the people in an open field and tied the young boy to the trunk of a tree. He took out an arrow from his quiver, fixed in the bow and said, `With the Name of Allah, the Rubb of the young boy,' he then shot the arrow and it hit the boy's temple. The young boy placed his hand upon the temple where the arrow had hit him and died. The people then said: `We believe in the Rubb of this young boy.' The king was told: `Do you see what you were afraid of, by Allah it has taken place; all people have believed.' The king then commanded that trenches be dug and fire lit in them, and said: `He who would not turn back from his (the young boy's) religion, throw him in the fire' or `he would be ordered to jump into it.' They did so till a woman came with her child. She felt hesitant in jumping into the fire. The child said to her: `O mother! Endure (this ordeal) for you are on the Right Path". 

Non existence is a creation too

There's a hadith of Rasoolulah's about the end of time when all creation will come in to non existence up to the point (it's a beautiful hadith) where the angel of death will be asked by Allah, the most High 'Is there anyone left?' And he will reply 'Ana' to which he will then be told to take his on soul (as I remember) then there will be nothing and no one left as it was before time. Nothing and no one except Allah most high. This moment is what I asked my teacher about on one of our breaks during class -where does everything go?

One of the greatest things I ever learned about Allah was in his answer -Allah can even create non existence. This was very profound for me. I had never before realize how immensely great Allah's power is that not only can he create something from nothing but he can create nothing from something. Whenever I lose something I usually calm myself by saying that 'all matter has space, everything is somewhere' but the ultimate truth is that God alone has all power. Matter can be or not be solely by his sake. 

Allah, the high, the great, the immensely powerful.

This path is long and hard, but its a valuable path