A.I.Makki The first Muslim armies fought a series of battles with the Persian Empire and emerged victorious. At that time, Harmusan was the ruler of a small part of the Persian Empire. He was the last among the Persian Kings to fight courageously with the Muslims. It was at the end of the third phase of the final battle that he was taken prisoner and was brought in triumph to Madinah to be put to death before Umar, the great Caliph of Islam and the Commander of the Faithful. When he stood before the Caliph in chains, the Caliph asked him courteously whether he wished for anything.
At this, Harmusan replied: “O great Caliph! I am extremely thirsty. Please bring me a pot of water and let me drink to my fill and after that I am ready to face whatever punishment that you may mete out to me.” The Caliph ordered a pitcher of water to be brought before the prisoner. His wish was immediately obeyed and a pot of cool water was placed before the prisoner, while the angry Muslims who had fought with him waited impatiently with their swords drawn, standing close to him, waiting to strike at him at the command of the Caliph.
Harmusan had noticed their frustration, took the pot of water in hand and hesitated to drink it. He thought that the Muslims would kill him, while he was drinking the water. The Caliph understood his secret fears and said: “Do not fear a secret blow, for the Muslims do not kill treacherously. I give you my word that you shall not die until you have finished drinking from the pot of water that you hold in your hands” Harmusan was clever. He had seen how the Muslims held their Caliph in high respect. Within a matter of seconds, he dashed the pot to the ground before him.
The pot broke into several pieces before the amazed o n l o o k e r s , spread on the hot burning desert sands of Madinah and soon v a n i s h e d into the earth below. N o w , H a r m u s a n s t o o d triumphantly before the Caliph and said: “You have just given your word that I would not meet my death until I had finished drinking the water from the pot. Now, command your soldiers to gather the water that has been spilled from the ground and I will face death only after drinking that water.” The Caliph was highly amused at the ruse employed by the clever Persian to save his life, and was impressed by his presence of mind.
The Persians believed that a monarch’s word was sacred and hence it must be upheld at all costs. The Holy Qur’an had also commanded Muslims to be true to their promises. So, he commanded another pot of water to be brought before Harmusan. He said: “Drink, I said before and perish; now I bid you to drink and live for I grant you complete freedom!” Harmusan was perplexed at the Caliph’s generosity, a quality which was unknown to the Persians. The Commander of the Faithful, indeed, had a noble character. He did asthe Caliph had commanded, and said: “Now, I testify that there is no other god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah!”
Believers’ hearts are with Allah at all times and in all places
When we believe in the oneness of Allah Subhana Wa Tallah and lead our life according to the guidelines that Allah Subhana Wa Tallah has provided through Prophet Muhammad (P.B,U.H), we truly belong and gain position in the list of most favorite peoples of Allah Subhana Wa Tallah. The truthiness of beliefs comes from the inner satisfaction of a person.
A person’s fulfillment of inner contentment arrives from the peaceful actions, love and care for humanity. If you believe that you are surrounded by the protective shield of Allah Subhana Wa Tallah’s blessings, all the worries regarding the norms of living would vanish at once and the only thing that would remain is going to be the peaceful environment and calm state of mind.
When we start believing in the preaching of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and commence our lives on those enlightened rules first, we gain the infinite blessings of Allah Subhana Wa Tallah and secondly, in this world we find ourselves more peacefully stabled than others. To express our gratitude towards Allah Subhana Wa Tallah in our daily living, the only set of words and the act that can show Allah Subhana Wa Tallah’s true consideration is dhikr or prayers including the recitation and learning of Quran e Majeed and Sunnah
Whenever you perform your routine tasks always believe that there is Allah Subhana Wa Tallah constantly watching you. By having this faith, you are actually doing yourself a favor and with this set of mind would come the assuring feelings of love and affection towards Allah Subhana Wa Tallah, which would bring contentment.
Leave your every decision on Allah Subhana Wa Tallah’s will and see how your every problem would sort out quickly. You would have never imagined that so far. In order to live successfully here and here after, humans have to surpass numerous hindrances that are lying in the path of life at every stop. But with strong determination and faith on Allah Subhana Wa Tallah can ease down a person’s difficult time. It will help in choosing the best option and facing challenges of life.
Follow and go through the records or history of Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and follow Him (P.B.U.H.) in the same way, you will never fall on the ground and if you will then you will have strength to stand up again. In Holy Quran, Allah Subhana Wa Tallah has mentioned clearly that “A person who wants to fetch my blessings must obey Muhammad (P.B.U.H) fully because he has done the duty that has been given him by me (Allah)”.
Allah Subhana Wa Tallah says that “Your feeling of love towards Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) will automatically show love toward me (Allah)”. In short, strong implementation of Islamic values in true means can get you connected with Allah’s blessings. This is the only way to make the pathway of life here and hereafter easier. And, you can achieve all this by doing dhikr of Allah Subhana Wa Tallah or in remembrance of God.
Magic and sorcery have been seen by true Islams as advice by devils or demons and no one should indulge in any of this type of future-telling or advice. Allah and the Prophet Muhammad are the only ones who have true access to this knowledge and so they are the only ones who should be consulted on it. Allah has the answers to every problem and so should be the one to be consulted for any desire or trouble, not anyone else. However, this is not to say that magic shows are disallowed in Muslim countries, if they can prove they are only for entertainment and not for anything else.
The Prophet Abu Hurairah warned people against seven things in the world, of which magic was one of them. Whatever people consult or whomever they visit to learn these things is considered a rejection of Allah in a very bad sense, and punishment will strike these misguided people. Even the lighter forms of future-telling such as reading the stars for a person or telling their life from their palms is also forbidden. Anyone who indulges themselves with magic by visiting a witch or a soothsayer is punished by Allah by having his or her prayers ignored for forty days.
Even those who believe in it but do not practice magic are considered sinners. Magic is thought to be concerned with powers given by Satan, even though many practitioners of magic try not to bring harm to others by thoughts, deeds or other means. There is always the way down into the forbidden arts, which are considered the blackest imaginable. Many acts of absolute atrocity are committed against men, women and children and animals in the guise of magic and the lunatics who strive to make it acceptable to the world.
Magic, simple or complex, is simply seen as haraam or forbidden. It is a temptation to Man to ask of others rather than Allah for answers, future-seeing and other things, including temptation into lust, eating wrongly, consuming alcohol, all of which are forbidden in the Muslim faith. Some practitioners of the dark arts desecrate graves, eat pork and drink blood, all very wrong occupations to a Muslim and attributed to Satan, as well they should be in any country.
To a Muslim, competence in magic can only be attributed to Satan, not Allah, and, as such, it is thought the person may obtain greater powers than Allah. To a true believer this cannot be, as the only Power is Allah, and He has not given permission for this to be so. Many things are attributed to witches, warlocks and others in a Muslim country, and they will be lucky to escape with their lives if they are uncovered. Allah’s punishment is not usually very pleasant for any practitioner of the so-called dark arts.
Any person who is genuinely devoted to Allah, the prophet and his teachings, is quite often given to dreams in which the Prophet or Allah, or infrequently both, appear to them. These dreams usually leave the person refreshed and filled with joy and thankfulness to Allah at their visions. The dreams are seen as a positive future, both on earth and when the person dies and is welcomed into Allah’s presence.
Sometimes the dreams tell of good fortune coming and this usually will come true. As does the feeling of lightening of the soul that these devout people often experience. These dreams are often alluded to as the person having them being allowed to glimpse the future as far as Allah permits. These dreams, if good, also signify that the dreamer is on the right path towards Allah and is to be blessed.
The dreams can signify different things when deciphered at different times of the day. Mornings are usually positive, but evenings or afternoons can be the opposite. Dreaming of nasty things, like snakes or scorpions usually means that the person is not on track according to Allah’s wishes and needs to repent and admit to their sins. Although if a grave is opened, there will only be found the normal bones of a human body and no sign of a snake’s remains or that of a scorpion the idea is ingrained from whence the person has the dream.
When a person sleeps their soul is thought to go to Allah who returns it the next morning. If He is pleased with them, they will return refreshed and energised, if not, they will have a restless sleep and be grumpy and tired the next day because of the lack of restful sleep. People may say that they do not dream. This is untrue, as the body does dream, but often the mind covers the dreams in a cloak of secrecy because they have been too unpleasant to recall. Even good dreams may fall victim to this type of censorship by the person’s own mind. The mind is conditioned to deny things that may mean something is going to drastically change a comfortable life, or a personal one, therefore dreams are not always given their due.
Dreams are not straight-forward, either in message or appearance, but, should the person seeking enlightenment continue on, they will make sense. Some may be about something that is weighing heavily on the person’s mind which may be work or personal reasons. Other times, if the person is extremely devout, they may simply be affirmations of this to the person’s inner self should some small doubt have surfaced? Many dreams may simply be a reflection of the way the person is feeling, or an illness that has not been suspected, and may be a warning of this potential problem.
There is a lot of confusion concerning this word: tasawwuf. Whereas the Quran and Sunnah are held as the highest point in a Muslim’s obedience creed, tasawwuf is mistakenly thought to supersede the two. This view is held by many people and has split the Muslim faith into two distinct camps of which one abides by the Quran and Hadith, the other by tasawuff.
Actually, the tasawuff is a later part of the Shariah, relating to feelings of the heart, and very much a part of the older religion. Every external deed is for the betterment of the heart’s feelings and thus allowing a person to pass happily into the afterlife. If this unconditional love is not obtained, then the person is destroyed inside. It is the growth of this love, the desire is to have Divine pleasure and it gives total obedience to the orders of the Shariah that makes it what it is.
Tasawuff exists purely to purify the heart from every lowly desire, lust, jealousy, nastiness whether by deed or speech, vanity and all the negatives that live in a Man’s heart and words. In return it wishes to clothe the heart with all things that are above these other emotions. These are fear of Allah, trust, love, truth, pure thoughts, and all that will make a Man worthy of attention in the afterlife, but most especially Allah’s mercy and love. This is its primary reason for existing and its soul.
To determine the problems of the heart in these issues is usually placed in the hands of a Shaykh or teacher. This person in turn has to be qualified according to the Shariah rulings, have had teachings by a suitably qualified Shaykh, who is respected by his followers, has no interest in worldly wealth for himself, tries very sincerely to teach his followers with education and morality, and has the needed religious knowledge, among other things. This person does not have to produce karamat or miracles, nor do they need to be able to see the future. Indeed, if they do, they may not be a Shaykh at all.
In order to follow the teachings of tasawuff it is good if you find a Shaykh whom you trust and like, for it will make your conversion easier. Once you have found this person, then there is a promise shared between you both in that he guides you and you follow him. There are several parts which the initiate vows to pursue, of which are to start an everyday self-assessment before going to bed in order to repent the bad ones and give thanks to Allah for the good ones, make sure that your eyes, ears and tongue are watched strictly to prevent doing or saying the wrong things, develop a humbleness whereby you do not judge others for what they do or think you are better than them, remember Allah frequently and other items which are part of this ritual.
Why Islamic Jewelry in Silver is So Popular for Men
Muslims men are prohibited from wearing gold as a wedding band or engagement ring made out of metal that contains yellow Gold. With time and the advancement of technology rings for men now come in a wide variety of materials and forms. A popular metal known as White Gold is available in 18 and 14 carats and is used by Muslim men which are technically also wrong. Another popular 9 carat White Gold known as Swasa also contains yellow gold and is therefore prohibited in Islam for wearing by Muslim males.
Types of Yellow Gold
There are many types of gold and most of them are precious to semi precious metals. Pure Gold or 999 Gold cannot be used in making jewelry as it is too soft and malleable to sustain the wear and tear. Another type of gold known as 916 Gold is made by adding different metal alloys is used for making jewelry and for holding gems and is much stronger as compared to the pure 999 Gold. It is more precious and used for making wedding jewelry and heavy gold sets. After that we have 18k Gold. Addition of alloys leaves it 75% pure but makes it stronger and does not allow the metal to bend. 14k Gold or 58% pure metal and 9k Gold or Swasa 37.5% pure are also used for making jewelry. Many Muslims think it is white gold so wearing it is not prohibited. But even the slightest touch of gold is not allowed by Islamic Shira so wearing it is also haraam for Muslim men.
Men prohibited wearing Jewelry in Any Form
Most of gold jewelry is plated with white, rose and black colored alloys which produces White, Rose and Black gold respectively. As the matter of fact is that it is still gold but only disguised by changing its color and addition of other alloys. In brief, Muslim men can wear silver, silver alloy not containing gold and of course, platinum rings, bracelets and chains but not the metal Gold.
Other Facts Related to Men Wearing Gold
There are many other interesting facts related to wearing gold by men in the Islamic school of thought that are popular worldwide. Many men think that they will lose their reproductive strength if they wear gold. In some societies or male dominated cultures wearing jewelry can make a man look like a woman so they strongly forbid their males to wear any sort of jewelry. Exchanging of wedding bands or rings is considered an act for Christians and therefore they do not wear a band. However, over the passage of time and with the advent of modern technology, new thoughts and ideas of modernity have replaced old orthodox views about wearing rings and other forms of jewelry including gold ornaments. Some Muslims have started wearing these ornaments to show their individuality and stay above the crowd. All we can say is that it still is fact that gold is prohibited in the form of jewelry for Muslim men to wear.
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