Secrets of Surat Al Kahf

Ever wondered why Prophet Muhammad (SAW) asked us to recite Surat Al-Kahf every Friday?

This surah has four stories in it, having some morals, lets see them and understand what they are saying to us:

1) The people of the cave
It’s the story of young men who lived in a disbelieving town, so they decided to migrate for the sake of Allah and run away. Allah rewards them with mercy in the cave and protection from the sun – they woke up and found the entire village believers.
Moral: trial of faith

2) The owner of two gardens
A story of a man whom Allah blessed with two beautiful gardens, but the man forgot to thank the one who blessed him with everything and he even dared to doubt Allah regarding the afterlife. So his garden was destroyed – he regretted ,but was too late and his regret did not bene?t him.
Moral: trial of wealth

3) Musa(as) and Khidr(as)
When musa(as) was asked-“who’s the most knowledgeable of the people of earth?”” Musa(as) said: me…,but Allah revealed to him that there’s someone who knows more than him. Musa(as) traveled to the man and learned how the divine wisdom can sometimes be hidden in matters which we perceive as bad.
Moral: trial of knowledge

4) Dhul-qarnayn
It’s a story of the great king that was given knowledge and power and was going around the world,helping people and spreading all that’s good. He was able to overcome the problem of Yajooj-Majooj and build a massive dam with the help of people whom he could not even understand.
Moral: trial of power

In the middle of the surah Allah mentions iblees as the one who stirs these trials:
Behold! we said to the angels “bow down to adam”: they bowed down except iblis. he was one of the jinns, and he broke the command of his lord. will ye then take him and his progeny as protectors rather than me? and they are enemies to you! evil would be the exchange for the wrongdoers!

Now let us see what’s the relationship between surat al-kahf and the dajjal (anti-christ)?
Dajjal will appear before day of judgement with the 4 trials:

A) He’ll ask people to worship him and not Allah: trial of faith.
B) He’ll be given powers to start/stop rain and tempt people with his wealth: trial of with his wealth.
C) He’ll trial people with the “knowledge” and news he gives them: trial of knowledge.
D) He’ll control huge parts of the earth: trial of power.

How to survive these trials? The answers are in Surat Al-Kahf:

Survival kit 1: Good companionship
“and keep thy soul content with those who call on their lord morning and evening, seeking his face; and let not thine eyes pass beyond them, seeking the pomp and glitter of this life; no obey any whose heart we have permitted to neglect the remembrance of us, one who follows his own desires, whose case has gone beyond all bounds.” (Surat al-kahf, verse 28)

Survival kit 2: Knowing the truth of this world
“set forth to them the similitude of the life of this world: it is like the rain which we send down from the skies: the earth’s vegetation absorbs it, but soon it becomes dry stubble, which the winds do scatter: it is (only) Allah who prevails over all things” (Surat al-kahf, verse 45)

Survival kit 3: Humbleness.
[Moses] said, “You will find me, if Allah wills, patient, and I will not disobey you in [any] order.” (Surat al-kahf, verse 69)

Survival kit 4: Sincerity.
“say: “i am but a man like yourselves, (but) the inspiration has come to me, that your Allah is one Allah whoever expects to meet his lord, let him work righteousness, and, in the worship of his lord, admit no one as partner.” (Surat al- kahf, verse 110)

Survival kit 5: Calling to Allah.
“and recite (and teach) what has been revealed to thee of the book of thy lord: none can change his words, and none wilt thou ? and as a refuge other than him.” (surat al-kahf, verse 27)

Survival kit 6: Remembering the Hereafter.
“ one day we shall remove the mountains, and thou wilt see the earth as a level stretch, and we shall gather them, all together, nor shall we leave out any one of them. and they will be marshalled before thy lord in ranks, (with the announcement), “now have ye come to us (bare) as we created you ?rst: aye, ye thought we shall not ful?l the appointment made to you to meet (us)!”: and the book (of deeds) will be placed (before you); and thou wilt see the sinful in great terror because of what is (recorded) therein; they will say, “ah! woe to us! what a book is this! it leaves out nothing small or great,but takes account thereof !” they will ?nd all that they did, placed before them: and not one will thy lord treat with injustice.” (surat al-kahf, verses 47-49)

Are we hypocrites ?

Why have we become such a insecure ummah from a fearless one ?  Constantly keeping up with the world is going to take us far from our goal ~ our Akhirah. We were once a race that was feared coz we believed in what was delivered to us from our beloved Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa salam)  and regardless of any influence, we abide by His instructions. But today our state is pathetic ~ we are just a distant figure of what we should be. We have molded our deen to our convenience. We have convinced ourselves that a lot of practices will NOT, indeed get us into trouble. We have been mislead and we are misleading our future generations. Unless we hold onto our sunnahs steadfastly, we are at a complete loss, our future generation is at a loss. Our ummah is at a loss.

Look at the condition of our Ummah:
The non-believing women are proud of their nakedness as they flaunt themselves in front of the world, while our Muslims sisters are ashamed of their hijab so they try to wear it in ways that the kuffar will approve of it.
The non-believers jump naked into pools, while we are embarassed to make wudu in toilet sinks….
The kuffar take pride in their illicit relationships, while we look for ways to condemn early marriages.
The disbelievers take pride in their liberalized culture in which homosexuality, prostitution and porn are considered freedom, while we feel ashamed of our deen that actually liberates us from the evil commands of our nafs.
While the kuffar commit animalistic acts in public without the least bit of shame, we find it embarassing to pray on the streets.
If they are proud of their filth, then what is stopping us from taking pride in our purity?
This is who we are and what we do and the day we stop being apologetic for being a Muslim, the lost glory of this Ummah will return.

New Year Greetings ? Happy Diwali ? Merry Christmas !!

Assalam Alaikum to all my muslim brothers and sisters who are visiting me today.

One often wonders which direction our ummah are heading in !!  I was totally shocked to see, my facebook page flooded with my muslim friends (and sadly) relatives, wishing all their friends ~ a prosperous Diwali ~ a happy diwali ~ a joyful diwali  ~ and what have you !!

Do you think, if I were to point out to some of them that wishing non-muslims on their own festivals was not permissible ~ do you really think, they would pay heed to my advise ???

Tell me, what do you do, when you see, that your brother’s son or your sister’s daughter,  is walking too close to the railway track ?? Do you just ignore it and carry on ? Do you warn them ? Do you caution them  ?

What worries me most are those who are already aware of ” deviation of path ” they have chosen. The ones who casually and sometimes, rebelliously say, ” I dont care” ~ and two years later, you find the very same people, bowing down before the Almighty, when their dear one has been diagnosed with a rare liver disorder !! Such are the ways of the Lord.

Then ofcourse there are those sisters, who innocently put it as “There’s no harm to include such and such ….. ” and before we know it, her son has already married a kuffar ~ and ofcourse, all her liberties and ideologies have carved the path to such a major decision for her son ..

Sheikh Assim Al Hakeem, is a well known Scholar. I have immense respect for the gentleman, becoz although he is a Saudi national based in Saudia Arabia ~ he has surprised me several times, by picking very controvertial subjects of today, and showing it in light of the Saheeh sunnah and Hadith.  He does not bend the rulings and he does not take the middle path ~ ( a path, unfortunately, taken by some scholars to please the leaders). He calls a spade a spade and does it with logic and a rational thought process ~ keeping Islam, Quran and Sunnah in the center.

15th November 2012, is first of Hijri ~ The muslim New year ~ as always, we are quick to inculcate “non-islamic” practises into anything that pleases us. Hence, quite beautifully, Sheikh explains on his facebook site, what and what not, we should do

” The question that is asked every year as we are approaching its end; what the ruling is on greeting others: happy New Hijri Year. Initiating it is not permissible as it is not something done by our Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam nor his companions. However, if someone greats you with such a greeting, you may greet him back and hope the Ummah and him a blessed year. This is the fatwa of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, Sheikh Ibn Bazz and Ibn Othaimeen. Therefore, don’t initiate the greeting but respond to it if greeted in a cordial manner. ~~ Sheikh Assim Al Hakeem “

So I placed this quote in my facebook status for all my brothers and sisters in deen ~ who are going to take the initiative to leave a status update on 1st of Hijri.

I do hope some of them realize that when  it is not advisable to wish our own brothers and sisters in deen, with a greeting that our beloved prophet did not practise ~ how does it “okay” us greeting non-muslims on their occasions ?????

Dr Zakir Naik carefully explains why it is forbidden to greet christians with a “Merry Christmas” in this youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiOBpgEVLt4

And yet again, there is an elaborate explanation from : – 

Majmoo’ah Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 3/369)

” Greeting the kuffaar on Christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is haraam, by consensus, as Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah: “Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival,’ and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from kufr, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bid’ah or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah.”

To read more on this explanation, please go here

500 years back, some folks decided to make a “tiny variation” in our deen to sit well with the culture of which ever country they were in, 500 years later, it is a part and parcel of their religion ~ the roots of which are nowhere to be found  in our sunnah or Quran yet they are practised more ardently than our own salaat ~ na-audhubillahi.

Dr Zakir Naik had said a very beautiful thing.” There are only two type of muslims, the practising and the non-practising”.

The so-called moderate muslims are the only munafiqs around. Those who conveniently bend the rulings of Quran and Sunnah to suit their convenience.  There is only more damage than good when rules are bend.

I believe, one must be kind, courteous and respectful of the other person’s character (muslim or non-muslim) ~ whether he/she be your neighbour, the person sitting next to you in a metro, the person working with you for a good 8 hours, the janitor or the postman. It is polite to share a meal, help with someone’s luggage, even get the disabled to cross the road, or to feed a stray cat/dog ~ there are hundreds of deeds that Allah rewards us for but clearly ~ inculcating another religion’s practises has no place in our religion, for please remember ~ Islam IS the last religion ~ Prophet Mohammed PBUH WAS THE LAST MESSENGER ~ and  clearly  in his last Khutbah amongst other things, he says 

“Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion.  He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things. “

Thus the beloved Prophet completed his Final Sermon, and upon it, near the summit of Arafat, the revelation came down:

“…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My Grace upon you, and have chosen Islam for you as your religion…” (Quran 5:3)

If our religion is perfect today ~ why are we still practising non-muslim traditions and greetings. Again, I am quoting an excellent explanation by Sheikh Assim Al Hakeem :-

“There are Muslims who claim their unconditional love to the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, yet they are up to their necks in innovation. Their actions falsify their claim. An innovator is either accusing the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam of withholding information from us or accusing him of ignorance. He accuses the Prophet of not knowing that this innovation was good for his Ummah. How can an innovator claim that he loves the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam? What earth carries you when you believe that you know more than him? Your only means of salvation is when you submit your will to Allah and completely follow the Sunnah without innovation.
~ sheikh Assim Alhakeem

I trust you found this article informative and I so hope, you find, in your heart a way to strengthen your deen. Inshallah.

If the mountain looks too large, we can always start with one step, at a time. And inshallah, Allah swt will make our path easy. Ameen.

Jazak Allah khair for visiting me today.