CULTURE OF ISLAM

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

Imtiaz Muhsin 26-Oct-12

The main objective of these talks (and therefore the scripts of these talks), is to stimulate thinking. Sensible, rational and logical thinking. So, my message, think, think & think! Be sensible, be rational and be logical.

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

Please Note
1. I have had the great privilege, (since Aug 2010), of presenting talks on the weekly Radio Program Culture of Islam [Every Friday 8 to 8.30 pm, Radio Sri Lanka - FM 97.4] 2. Since these are Radio Talks, I refer to, or address the audience as listeners 3. I am well aware that the audience to these talks would consist of people belonging to a variety of faiths. So as to make people of all faiths feel included, I very often use words and names that are common to all religions. 4. For these reasons, I use the name GOD, as well as Abraham, Moses, Jesus etc as well as the names Allah, Ibrahim (Alaihis Salaam), Moosa (Alaihis Salaam), Easa (Alaihis Salaam) etc 5. Muslims by habit usually say Sallallahu Alaihiwasallam, when the name of Prophet Muhammad is mentioned, and Alaihis Salaam' when the name of a Prophet is mentioned. However, in these series of talks I have reduced the use of these prayers & sayings to the bare minimum. 6. Muslims, also by habit, use a number of Arabic prayers or sayings, such as Alhamdulillah, Insha Allah and so on. Again, I have reduced the use of these prayers or sayings to the bare minimum. 7. Sometimes I have to write Arabic words in the English script. I have devised my own way of writing Arabic in English, as follows;

th TH

s Ss SW

DHL DHZ

H h

Gh GH

Information on these talks along with all download links can be found on my on my Blog (http://imtiazm.wordpress.com/) The dates or the schedules of these talks can be viewed on the Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/ImtiazMuhsin786) The Scripts of these talks can be downloaded from www.ScribD.com (www.ScribD.com Author Imtiaz Muhsin) The audio files of these talks can be downloaded from YouTube (YouTube Channel Imtiaz Muhsin) The YouTube Link to this talk is at http://youtu.be/tS8w5UDo9gc

All Praise and Thanks is due to Allah and Allah alone Alhamdulillah!

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

Dear Friends, Assalamu Alaikum, This evening we celebrate the Eid Ul Adzha or the festival we commonly refer to as the Hajj Festival So then, what is the Hajj Festival to all of us it is the day culminating a pilgrimage made by Muslims to Mecca. To many of us this marks the Day of Arafath or the day on which all pilgrims assemble in a valley in the desert, or in a valley of a desert located a few miles outside Mecca that valley is referred to as Arafath. What is the significance of these millions of Pilgrims from all over the world assembling at Arafath. Or the more curious question would be what is the significance of this pilgrimage or the pilgriamge of Hajj and what is the significance of the series of rituals that these pilgrims perform over these few days in and around Mecca? A simple answer would be that these pilgrims are symbolically re-enacting some deeds performed by Prophet Abraham many years ago estimated at around 4,000 years ago, or around 2,000 years before Christ. So a question that would arise is why should Muslims go to Mecca and symbolically go through the motions of some acts or deeds performed by Prophet Abraham or Ibrahim (AS), and that too around 4,000 years ago? A good way of finding out the answers would be to refer to the Quran, after all the Quran is the primary source of instruction for Muslims. Now, when we read the Quran we realize that there are a number of topics that the Quran instructs us on. At first sight or on the first reading many of the Aayaths in the Quran do not seem to bring out a meaning but then on reading again and again on on pondering on the words and the settings of these words in these Aayaths of the Quran, meanings begin to emerge and almost all Muslims would tell us that these meanings are enlightening and are in fact proof of GOD, of the fact that He created this Universe and everything in it as well as proof of the fact that there is going to be a day of reckoning or what we commonly refer to as the Day of Judgment. Let us take a brief look at the Holy Quran; When we open the Quran, the very first Chapter is referred to as the Surah Fathiha. The word Fathiha itself means The opening The Surah Fathiha is in fact a very short Chapter consisting of only 7 Aayaths or just for ease of explanation we may say 7 verses. But then we must always bear in mind that verses belong to poetry and even though the Quran is worded in the most eloquent poetry the Aayaths are actually Signs or the Signs of GOD. So each Aayath or what we refer to as each verse is actually a Sign of GOD or a sign of Allah and has to be treated as such.

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

In Surah Hijr, Aayath No 87 instructs us; (15:87) And We have bestowed upon you the seven oft-repeated Aayaths and the glorious Qurn.

A Muslim recites this Surah Fathiha in every Salaath and since the 5 compulsory daily Salaaths consist of 17 Rakaaths the Surah Fathiha would be repeated at least 17 times every day. Now let us briefly look at this Surah; (1:1) With the name of Allah, the Very Beneficient, the Very-Merciful.

We are introduced to GOD to ALLAH, by His attrributes of being most Beneficient as well as Merciful (1:2) Praise belongs to Allah, the Rabb of all TheWorlds.

We are then told or reminded that all praise and all thanks belongs to ALLAH who is the Rabb not just of the Universe that we are aware of, but of All the Worlds or we could even say all the Universes (1:3) the Very Beneficient, the VeryMerciful.

We are again reminded about His attributes that HE is Very Beneficient, the Very-Merciful. (1:4) the Master of the Day of Requital.

The we are instructed that ALLAH who was Very Beneficient, the Very-Merciful to us whilst we were living on Earth, would be the Master on Judgment Day instructing us that there is a Judgment Day and thus though we find ALLAH to be Very Beneficient, the Very-Merciful we should always be aware that we should not abuse or take unfair advantage merely because GOD has been both Very Beneficient and Very Merciful to all of us this is indeed a warning that should be taken very very serioulsy. Then how should we live? The next few Aayaths describes this beautifully. (1:5) You alone do we worship, and from You alone do we seek help.

The words Iyyaaka Naghbudhu is translated to mean only you we worship it actually means devoted, dedicated service which in fact becomes worship. So in this Aayath we are instructed that our entire life should be dedicated to serving this Very Beneficient this very Merciful ALLAH. In the next 2 Aayaths we are told about the theme of this lifetime service or worship or we could even call it theme of our lives (1:6) Take us on the straight path.

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

We pray that we should be on the straight path what could the words straight path mean. Could it not mean the path that is always directly connected to GOD? (1:7) the path of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.

Does this not show us that there is a path from which we get all Beneficience and all Mercy from GOD in other words all His nighmeth or all His favors directly from Him. We could lead a life in this realization, reiterating this relationship in every thought action and deed of ours or else, we could make use of His nighmeth or all His favors to follow our desires, to make ourselves the center of our world, fooling ourselves with the thought that all these favors are being heaped on us because GOD is pleased with our greedy intentions, we think we are serving mankind, serving the world whilst in actual fact we are serving or feeding our ever growing greedy desires

So GOD instruct us about 2 groups of people; 1. The first group - Those who receive His favors His nighmeth and used these nighmeth in the correct way or correct manner. Now that too is a nighmeth, a very special nighmeth! And remember it is these who are guided on the straight path the Siraathal Mustaqeem 2. The second group - Those who abuse His nighmeth, and thus bring upon themselves His anger, and it is they who are then led astray Now how could we know as to whether we are being guided on the straight path or have incurered his wrath and are infact being led astray? What would be the landmarks of this, these two lifestyles? (If I may use the word lifestyles) To find this out, it is the Quran we have to turn to. The 114 Surahs or the 114 Chapters in the Quran and the 6,236 Aayaths in the Holy Quran is a very comprehensive description of these two ways. Amongst the many headings we could give for the ingredients that make up this knowledge, some of them would be; 1. Knowledge abut ALLAH especially about many of His attributes as described in the Quran 2. About His Creations especially the Creations of the the Universe and Earth and all that it contains, about His Angels, about His Creation of the Human Being and Jinn - especially about Iblees and Shaithan - and about the Day of Judgment and about Heaven and Hell the ultimate abodes. 3. About the virtuous qualities that GOD expects us to identify and then develop within us and the destructive qualities that GOD expects us to first identify and then to cleanse from our lives. 4. Advice or instruction laden descriptions of lives of those who lived with guidance or hidhayath and similarly advice or instruction laden descriptionsof those who brought the wrath of GOD upon themselves and thus strayed.

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

So we have descriptions of the Anghamtha ahalaiHim and the Ghaiyril Maghloobi ghalaiyHim Wa laldhlaaleeen So who are the Anghamtha ahalaiHim and the Ghaiyril Maghloobi ghalaiyHim Wa laldhlaaleeen? In the Quran, Allah Taaalah uses many words to describe virtuous qualities as well as those who possess these virtuous qualities. Some of them are; The Mumineen The MuHthadheen The Swaaliheen The MuththaQeen The Mukhliseen The Swaabireen The Qaanitheen And so on I have counted 80 such descriptions of virtuous qualities in the Quran Similarly, in the Quran, Allah Taaalah uses many words to describe destructive qualities, as well as those who possess these destructive qualities. Some of them are; The Kaafireen The FaasiQeen The Mufsidheen The MunafiQeen The Mujrimeen The Mushrikeen And so on And then Allah Taaalah also describes to us meaningful incidents in the lives of those who have been rightly guided the Anghamtha ghalaiHim as well as incidents in the lives of those who earned His wrath the Anghamtha ghalaiHim Examples of those who were rightly guided are the Prophets. So in the Quran we have Aayaths very rich in meaning, that describes in few words, meaningful incidents from the lives of many Prophets. So we have Aayaths that describe incidents from the lives of Prophet Moses or Moosa (AS), Prophet Abraham or Ibrahim (AS) Prophet Joseph or Yusuf (AS), Prophet Yonah or Yunus (AS), Prophet Noah or NuH (AS) and so on. Not only are stories of Prophets provided as lessons but even stories of righteous people such as Dhzul Qarnain commonly thought to be Alexander the Great, then Luqman (AS) also known a s Luqman Hakeem or Luqman the wise. Similarly we have stories of those who earned the wrath of GOD upon themselves and thus strayed. Some of these people are Firaun or the Pharoah from the time of Prophet Moses or Moosa (AS) and Qaaroon a very wealthy and entrepreneur, again in the time of Prophet Moses or Moosa (AS)

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

It is for us to read these Aayaths in the Quran and then try to identify in our lives as to how we behave or respond to situations as compared to their model or exemplary behaviour. There are many ethical, moral and truth defining lessons in each and every one of these Aayaths. It is for us to do the seeking. Today let us briefly study some of the Aayths or the stories of Ibrahim (AS) from the Quran. I have counted 179 Aayaths in the Holy Quran that describes the life of Ibrahim (AS) and his mission in life. It is also interesting to note that Ibrahim (AS)s name appears 69 times in the Holy Quran. The number of times the names of some of the other Prophets are mentioned in the Quran are; 1 1a 1b 2 2a 3 Ibrahim (AS) Ishaaq Ismail (AS) Moosa (AS) Harun (AS) Easa (AS) + Al Masih (the Messiah) + Ibn Mariyam 69 17 12 136 20 25 + 11 + 23 = 59

(004:125) (4:125) Who is better in Faith than one who has surrendered his self to Allah and is good in deeds, and has followed the creed of Ibrhm, the upright. Allah has made Ibrhm a friend. (019:041) (19:41) And mention in the Book (the story of) Ibrhm. Indeed, he was Siddq (a man of truth), a prophet,

(02:130) (2:130) Who can turn away from the faith of Ibrhm except the one who has debased himself in folly? Indeed We have chosen him in this world. And he is certainly among the righteous in the Hereafter.

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

(037:083) (37:83) And certainly one of his adherents was Ibrhm. (37:84) (Remember) when he came to his Rabb with a pure heart, (011:075) (11:75) Surely, Ibrhm is forbearing, very penitent, ever-turning to Allah. (009:114) (9:114) Indeed, Ibrhm was very tenderhearted, very forbearing. (060:004) (60:4) Indeed, there is an excellent example for you in Ibrhm and those with him,

So we find in the Quran itself many aayaths about Ibrahim (AS) as well as Aayaths praising the qualities of Ibrahim (AS) Obvioulsy the message is for us to contemplate as to how we too could acquire these qualities. In this endevaour I would like to share this article on Ibrahim (AS) that I found to be very interesting. This article that I am referring to is found in the Fazail E Sadaqaat by Moulana Zakkariya. In Part 2 of this book he informs us - [Under the section Ayath in praise of contentment] As follows; Ibn Abbas Radhiallaho Anho says: Allah Taala says in Surah Najm (53:37), praising Ibrahim Alaihissalaam: (53:37) and of Ibrhm who fulfilled (his duties)?

The Ayath means that Ibrahim Alaihissalaam fulfilled all that Islam demands. According to the description in Fazaail E Sadaqaath, these demands fall into thirty broad categories, known as the thirty Sihaam of Islam. Ten of these Sihaam have been indicated in Surah Tauba in the Verses; (111 -112) Innallah Hashtharaa minal Mumineena Anfusahum Wa Amwaalahum bi anna lahumul Jannah. Surely, Allah has bought their lives and their wealth from the believers, in exchange of (a promise) that Paradise shall be theirs

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

Ten others have been recounted in Surah Ahzaab in the Verse No 35 Innal Muslimeena wal Muslimaath Surely Muslim Men and Muslim Women Six more have been described in Surah Al Muminoon, verses numbers 1 11 Kadh Aflahal Muminoon Success is really attained by the Believers The description of four others occurs in Surah Maarij in the Ayath Nos 26 35 Wallazeena Yu Sadhiqoona Bi Yauwmidh Dheen Those who believe in the Day of Judgement as True Put together, these make thirty in all. Whosoever meets his Rabb (On the Day of Judgment), after having fulfilled one of these obligations, will be deemed to have practiced one thirtieth part of Islam. All these 30 Sihaam require more explaining, but just so as to be introduced to these qualities let us briefly read these Aayaths along with the translations we should spend our time doing research, seeking out the essence of these qulaities and making them part of our very own character and personality. Ten Qualities from Surah Taubah (9:111 - 112) Innallah Hashtharaa minal Mumineena Anfusahum Wa Amwaalahum bi anna lahumul Jannah. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next, Yu Qaathiloona Fi Sabeelillah Yu Qaathiloona Fi Sabeelillah Fa Yaqthuloona wa yuqthaloon Thaa'iboona Ghaabidhoona Haamidhoona Saa'ihoona Raakioona Saajidhoona Aamirrona bil Ma'aroof wanna hoona anil Munkar Wa Haafidhlloona li Hudhoodhillah Surely, Allah has bought their lives and their wealth from the believers, in exchange of (a promise) that Paradise shall be theirs They fight in the way of Allah They fight in the way of Allah and kill and are killed Those who repent Those who worship Those who praise Those who travel (in the Path of Allah) Those who bow in Ruk, Those who prostrate in sajdah Those who bid the Fair and forbid the Unfair Those who preserve the limits prescribed by Allah

100 Prophet Abraham Part 3

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next,

Ten Qualities from Surah Ahzaab (33:35) beginning Innal Muslimeena wal Muslimaath Muslimeena wal Muslimmaath Muslim men and Muslim women Mu'mineena wal Mu'minaath Qaanitheena wal Qaanithaath Saadhiqeena was Saadhiqaath Saabireena was Saabiraath Khaashi'eena wal Khaashi'aath Musaddiqeena wal Musaddiqaath Saa'imeena was Saa'imaath Haafidhleena Furoojahum Wal Haafidhlaath Zaakireenallaha Kaseeranw waz Zaakiraath believing men and believing women devout men and devout women truthful men and truthful women patient men and patient women humble men and humble women and the men who give Sadaqah (charity) and the women who give Sadaqah the men who fast and the women who fast and the men who guard their private parts (against evil acts) and the women who guard (theirs) and the men who remember Allah much and the women who remember (Him)

21 22 23 24 25 26

Six Qualities from Surah Mu'minoon (23:1 - 11) who concentrate their attention in Allazeena Hum fee Salaathihim humbleness when offering Salh Khaashi'oon (prayers) Wallazeena Hum Anil Laghwee who keep themselves away from Mughridhloon vain things, Wallazeena Hum Liz Zakaathi and who are performers of Zakh Faaghiloon Wallazeena Hum Li Furoojihim and who guard their private parts Haafidhloon and (success is attained) by those Hum Li Amaanathihim Waghahdheehim who honestly look after their trusts Raaghoon and covenant who consistently observe their Hum Alaa Salawaathihim Yuhaafidhloon prayers Quality Description Four Qualities from Surah Ma'arij (70:26 - 35) Wallazeena yusadhdhaqoona bi and those who believe in the Day of yaumidhdheen Judgment as true Wallazeena Hum Min ghazaabi Rabbihim and those who are fearful of the Mushfiqoon torment of their RabbWallazeena Hum Li Amaanaathihim wa and those who are careful about their ghaHdhihim Raaghoon trusts and covenants Wallazeena Hum bishahadhaathihim and those who are upright in their Qaa'imoon testimonies

27 28 29 30

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31

Wallazeena Hum ghalaa Salaathihim yu haafidhloon

and those who take due care of their Salh

These are the qualities of Ibrahim (AS) These are the qulaities with which he performed his deeds. So those who go for Hajj re-enact those deeds, with the hope that they could ponder on and learn the many virtuous qualities that those original deeds enshrined. That would be the objectives of Hajj that would be the lessons of Hajj. We pray that Allah Taalaa gives us the desire, drive and opportunity to learn and strive to bring those qualities into our lives. May allah Taalah guide us all and acept us all. Asslamu Alaikum
Imtiaz Muhsin Colombo Sri Lanka crescent786@hotmail.com

You Tube Channel - HaneefanMusliman

The YouTube Link to this talk is at http://youtu.be/tS8w5UDo9gc

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100 Prophet Abraham Part 3