Syed Ahmer

  He did not express any displeasure. He had just gone to meet a friend, and when he couldn’t find him, he returned home like any other person. When Hazrat Aitban ibn Malik RAA learnt later that the Holy Prophet  ﷺ   had come to meet him and had not been able to find him, he rushed to meet him and expressed his feelings of being honoured that the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  had come to meet him.

 FULFILLING RIGHTS OF HIS COMPANIONS Once the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  walked from Masjid Nabvi to meet Hazrat Aitban ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) socially who lived near Masjid Quba. It is about a three lies distance. When he reached his home, he called three times. When the Sahabi didn’t reply, as per the commandment of the Noble Qur’an;   “O you who believe, do not enter any houses, other than your own houses unless you seek permission…” (24:27) The Holy Prophet  ﷺ  returned to his home.

 As the title may suggest, I decided to write this series following the recent French government proposals to end ‘separatism’ in France. When I read the proposals on The Guardian, it included items like; ban Halal food in schools, ban swimming pools from offering separate times for men and women, spread the ban on headscarf from public to private sector, etc. However, there was almost nothing about how to get first and second generation immigrant populations out of ghettos, and how to improve their access to better housing, better education and better employment opportunities, steps which are realistically much more likely to end separatism.   When nations previously colonised other countries they often forced the native populations to give up their own culture and adopt the occupying power’s culture. Unfortunately, the practice still continues though in reverse order, previous colonial powers now expecting immigrants to give up their own culture and norms and adopt the host ...

  Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala bless him) used to say that if a person cuts himself off from people after becoming a spiritual leader, then it means that he hasn’t learnt even the ABC of  Tareeqat  ( Tasawwuf ). He said that even after becoming a Sheikh a person should live like ordinary human beings, just like the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  used to live.

A few months after the Christchurch mosque attacks, the Aotearoa NZ Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) arranged a whole-day workshop on “Working with Muslim Communities”. I was also asked to make a presentation on “Muslim Beliefs and Practices” in this workshop. As the first workshop was so heavily subscribed we were asked to do a second workshop which was conducted last month. Another government department has now asked us to conduct a similar workshop for its officers. Considering the benefits participants reported on attending these workshops, I thought it may be useful to share one slide of the presentation at a time and write a narrative about it developing it into an essay.   These workshops are primarily aimed at a non-Muslim audience to make them more aware of core principles and practices of Islam and Muslims (which unfortunately are not always the same). However, I do hope they will also be useful to our younger generation, particularly the one growing up in West...

 The non-believers thought that walking in the markets like an ordinary person was beneath the station of Prophethood. This was because they had seen their own kings and leaders that once they became kings they cut themselves off from the general public. They stopped visiting the Bazaars like ordinary people and rather came with all the pomp of their kinghood. These non-believers thought that Prophethood was such a greater station than being a king that it was beneath a Prophet’s status to roam around in the Bazaars like a common person.   However, the Noble Quran contradicted this belief. The Quran taught people that the Prophets come for your betterment, therefore, they do everything an ordinary person does and teach people through their practice what are the etiquettes and manners of conducting those activities. They are not meant to cut themselves off from people, therefore, it is no weakness for a Prophet to walk around in the markets like an ordinary person and socialize...

 NON-BELIEVERS’ OBJECTION In fact, it is one of those Sunnah of the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  which the non-believers used to criticize. Allah Ta’ala says in the Noble Quran;   “They said, “What sort of messenger is this who eats food and walks in the markets” (25:7)