A Day in the Life of al-Albaanee - In the Words of His Wife

  “Our noble mother, we’d like you to give us a description of a complete day from his life, may Allaah have mercy on him, from the time he would wake up for fajr until the time he’d go to bed at night.”

A description of a full day from the Shaikh’s life. The Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him, would wake up for the morning prayer, if not before it, and would also wake some of his students through the phone. Then he would, as long as he was physically able, go and take his students from their houses or from the road where they’d be waiting for him. They would pray the morning prayer in a mosque where the Imaam would strive to implement the Sunnah and shun innovations, like the qunoot in fajr, and most of the time the mosque was far away from our area.

Then if there was no sitting with his students in the mosque, the Shaikh would come back to his library and stay there amongst his books and his research up until seven o’clock in the morning at which time I would have prepared some breakfast for him. So he would take his breakfast and then return to his library and stay there until it was time for the siesta [qailulah], which was when the Shaikh would begin to feel sleepy. So he would go and sleep for a short while and then return to his library.

And this was how his lunch would be too, at one o’clock. As for dinner, then the Shaikh would not desire it. He would answer calls on the phone after ishaaprayer, for he had appointed two hours for issuing religious verdicts on the phone. As for visits, he had set the time between maghrib and ishaa for them during the days when his circumstances would allow him to do so.

     “How would the Shaikh react to what the Islamic nation was going through and what affect did that have on him?”

As for the reaction of the Shaikh to what was occurring in the Islamic ummah, then we did not have a television in the house, because the Shaikh did not want to bring that upon us, and he wouldn’t buy newspapers but [at the same time] he would be extremely hurt at what was happening to the Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and the other Islamic countries.

And he was often greatly moved by his Muslim brothers in Syria at the time of the events that occurred in the eighties with the Alawites. Since many times the Muslim youth would come to him and seek his counsel and he would honour them and receive them in the best way possible.

Organize Your Life in Ramadan

By Imam Hamid Slimi
We would like to wish you a happy and fruitful month of Ramadan 1426.

As we are spiritually preparing for the month of Ramadan, I would like to suggest the following program to help everyone—including those who go to work early in the morning or to school—have an enjoyable, organized, and well-spent month.

Many people hold the perception that fasting in Ramadan demands a tremendous amount of energy, and therefore many activities should be reduced and many projects should be postponed until Ramadan is over. I would like to suggest in the following lines a simple schedule, as I was asked by some brothers and sisters on how to organize life during this blessed month. This schedule can also be applied outside Ramadan.

1. Sleep well

If you come back from Tarawih at 10:00 every night, try to sleep at 11:00 in order to wake up for sahur (pre-dawn meal), as it was the sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to eat something before Fajr. You can go back to sleep after Fajr if you wish. Otherwise, it is better to try to close your eyes even for a few minutes after Zhuhr and take a power nap even for 15 or 20 minutes during lunch time. The afternoon nap is very neglected by people although it was widely taken in the past. Any fasting person will benefit from fasting not only spiritually; but if one has a healthy and rested body, there can also be many medical and physical benefits.

2. Manage your time wisely

Make a “to do” list every day. Review your to do list and refresh your memory about scheduled meetings or classes. Put things that are most important at the top and do them first. If it’s easier, use a planner to track all of your tasks. Make your most important phone calls early, as you’re more likely to catch people at their desks at the beginning of the day. Then use your paper or electronic calendar to divide the rest of the day into project segments. Even if your time estimates are approximate, they help you focus on how much you can realistically expect to get done. Attack the most important projects when your personal energy is highest. For you who are fasting, this may be first thing in the morning.

Check your e-mail and messages throughout the day, again sorting them immediately. Read and respond to urgent items, but file the rest away for the time you’ve already scheduled to handle them.

Wrap up the day and prepare for tomorrow. Review your checklist and cross off completed items. Move any pending items to a fresh list for tomorrow.

On another note, count your hours. If you sleep for six or seven hours and work for eight hours plus the traffic—which can be on average one to two hours—you are left with seven to nine hours for other things. Shopping, meals, and time with the family will take an average of four to five hours, and the time in the mosque at night for religious lessons, `Ishaa’ and Tarawih will take a maximum of two to three hours. You will be left with another two hours that you can use for either more learning about Islam or for school homework or extra business or work from your job

Patience is…

Patience is the noose of the believer, tying him down: he may wander for a bit but always returns. It is the pillar of his faith to which he recourses, there is no faith for the one who has no patience. If, in such a case, it does exist, it would be severely weak. The one who has no patience is like worshipping Allaah at the edge of a faltering precipice: if good comes his way he takes comfort, but if trial comes his way, the world turns inside out and he loses both it and the Hereafter.

~Ibn Qayyim: Idatu’l Sabirun wa Dhakiratu’l-Shakireen

Sadaqah--the small things that matter.

Abu Hurairah,radiyallahu 'anhu,reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said :

"On every person's joints or small bones there is sadaqah every day the sun rises.Doing justice between two people is sadaqah;assisting a man to mount his animal,or lifting up his belongings onto it is sadaqah; a good word is sadaqah; every step you take towards prayer is sadaqah; and removing harmful things from pathways is sadaqah."

[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

The Nature of Things

Ibn al-Qayyim says: “For the tongue does not keep quiet at all. It is either a tongue that remembers or a tongue that is frivolous and it has to be one of these two.

It is the (nature of the) soul; if you do not preoccupy it with truth, it will occupy you with falsehood. It is the (nature of the) heart; if you do not accommodate it with love of Allaah, it will dwell with love of creation and this is a certain reality. It is the (nature of the) tongue; if you do not preoccupy it with remembrance, it will most definitely occupy you with frivolity.

Thus, choose for your own self one of the two courses and confer upon it one of the two standings.”

Source: Al-Waabil as-Sayyib | Pgs. 166-167 | Ibn al-Qayyim

“Every human being has two sides..."

Salman al Farsi (رضي الله عنه) said,

 “Every human being has two sides, inner and outer. Whoever corrects his inner disposition, Allah will correct his outer disposition. Whoever corrupts his inner being (with sins), Allah will corrupt his outer being.” 

                                                                                          Hilyatul Awliy

STORY OF MUHAMMAD ALI'S ( the boxing champion's) ADVICE TO HIS DAUGHTERS

The following incident took place when Muhammad Ali's daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were not modest. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:

When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father's suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.

My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them."

He looked at me with serious eyes. "Your body is sacred. You're far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too." Source: Taken from the book: More Than A Hero: Muhammad Ali's Life Lessons Through His Daughter's Eyes

In Short...

Luqman sad to his son: "My son, if you have doubts about death, then do not sleep, for as you sleep so too will you die. And if you have doubts in the resurrection, then do not wake up from your sleep, for as you wake up from your sleep, so too will you be resurrected after you die."

Luqman: The Wise

Narrated Ibn Wahb: I was told by 'Abdullah Ibn 'Ayyash Al-Fityani after' Umar, the freed slave of 'Afrah as saying: "A man came to Luqman, the wise and asked: Are you Luqman? Are you the slave of so and so? He said: "Yes!" The man said: You are the black shepherd! Luqman said: As for my black color, it is obviously apparent, so what makes you so astonished? The man said: You became frequently visited by the people who pleasingly accept your judgments! Luqman said: O cousin! If you do what I am telling you, you will be like this. The man said: What is it? Luqman said: Lowering my gaze, watching my tongue, eating what is lawful, keeping my chastity, undertaking my promises, fulfilling my commitments, being hospitable to guests, respecting my neighbors, and discarding what does not concern me. All these made me the one you are looking at."

THINK ABOUT IT...!!!!!

1. Be like a butterfly, which lands on fragrant flowers and fresh branches.
2. You do not have time to seek out peoples defects and mistakes.
3. If Allah is with you, then whom do you have to fear? If Allah is against you, then what hope do you have?
4. The fire of envy consumes the body, and excessive jealousy is like a raging fire.
5. If you do not prepare today, then you will not be able to do anything tomorrow.
6. Withdraw peacefully from places where idle arguments are going on.
7. let your morals and attitudes be more beautiful than a garden.
8. Do acts of kindness and you will be the happiest of people.
9. Leave people to the Creator, leave the envier to death, and forget about your enemy.
10. The pleasure of haraam actions is followed by regret, loss and punishment.