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Khushoo, Spring of Civilization, Halfway Measures to Prom

Issue 329 » June 3, 2005 - Rabi-al-Thani 25, 1426

General

Living the Quran

Al-Muminun (The Believers)
Chapter 23: Verses 1-2

Be Mindful of Khushoo
 "Successful indeed are the believers, those who offer their salah (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness."

Khushoo means calmness, serenity, tranquillity, dignity and humility. What makes a person have this khushoo is fear of Allah and the sense that He is always watching. Khushoo means that the heart stands before the Lord in humility and submission.

Salah (prayer) is the greatest of the practical pillars of Islam, and khushoo (humility and attentiveness) in prayer is required by shariah (Islamic law). When Iblees (Satan), the enemy of Allah, vowed to mislead and tempt the sons of Adam and said “Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left…” [Surah al-Araf 7:17], one of his most significant plots became to divert people from salah by all possible means and to whisper to them during their prayer so as to deprive them of the joy of this worship and cause them to lose the reward for it. As khushoo will be the first thing to disappear from the earth, and we are living in the last times, the words of Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) are particularly pertinent to us: “The first thing of your religion that you will lose is khushoo, and the last thing that you will lose of your religion is Prayer. There may be a person praying who has no goodness in him, and soon you will enter the mosque and not find anyone who has khushoo.”

The site of khushoo is the heart, and its effects are manifested in the physical body. The various faculties follow the heart: if the heart is corrupted by negligence or insinuating whispers from Satan, the worship of the body’s faculties will also be corrupt. The heart is like a king and the faculties are like his troops who follow his orders and go where they are commanded. If the king is deposed, his followers are lost, which is like what happens when the heart does not worship properly.

Source:
"33 Ways of developing Khusho in Salah", by Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid
Understanding the Prophet's Life

The Spring of Civilization

The spring from which the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) drank was the Quran; only the Quran, as the Hadith of the Prophet and his teachings were offspring of this fountainhead. When someone asked the Mother of the Faithful, Aisha (may God be pleased with her), about the character of the Prophet, she answered, 'His character was the Quran.'

The Holy Quran was the only source from which they quenched their thirst, and this was the only mold in which they formed their lives. This was the only guidance for them, not because there was no civilization, or culture, or science, or books, or schools. Indeed, there was Roman culture, its civilization, and its laws, which even today are considered to be the foundation of European culture. There was the heritage of Greek culture- its logic, its philosophy, and its arts, which are still a source of inspiration for Western thought. There was the Persian civilization, its art, its poetry, its legends, and system of government. There were many other civilizations, near or far, such as the Indian and Chinese cultures, and so on. Thus, this pure generation of believers did not place sole reliance on the Book of God for the understanding of their religion due to the ignorance of other civilizations and cultures, but it was all according to a well thought out method. An example of this purpose is found in the displeasure expressed by the Prophet (peace be upon him) when Umar (may God be pleased with him) brought some pages from the Torah. The Prophet said, 'By God, if even Moses had been alive among you today, he would have no recourse except to follow me.' [Reported by al-Hafidh Abu Yala]

It is clear from this incident that the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) deliberately limited the first generation of Muslims, which was undergoing the initial stages of training, to only one source of guidance, and that was the Book of God. His intention was to prepare a generation who witnessed and lived the Quran. That is why the Prophet was displeased when Umar turned to a source different from the Quran.

Source:
"Milestones" - Syed Qutb Shaheed
Blindspot!

Halfway Measures to the Prom

Some Muslim youth want to go to the Prom not for the sex, drugs, alcohol or rockn'roll, but simply to have a good time with their friends. They have no intention of approaching these aspects of the evening.

While on the surface, this may seem acceptable, the reality is very different.

“You're seeing people you've spent the last five years [in some parts of Canada, high school is for five years] of your life with in their worst behaviour, and you're rationalizing it,” says Sakr of this kind of reasoning.

“It's really hard to have a halfway thing,” says Imam.
“There's no way your Muslim child can just go there and be a wallflower and not be affected,” she warns parents.

”Once you're there, you can't say ‘I refuse to participate in your evil kind of entertainment',” says Imam, adding that most youth would probably feel it's rude to leave.

“If you think that you can protect yourself, then you're entrusting yourself to your own weakness,” says Rehman. She adds that Allah warns against even going near Zina. With the Prom, you're not only going near that, but also near alcohol and drugs.

“You're bearing witness to the Haram and ask yourself, if you were to die there, how would you face Allah, that this is the last time you would be with your friends?” asks Sakr.

The Prom is a major test for Muslim youth. It represents the struggle against some of the very basic elements of what is defined as a “good time” in North American teenage culture.

Muslim parents and communities need to work together to recognize and help the youth fight against these pressures.

Source:
"Prom: Not Just One Night of Haram" - Samana Siddiqui