Islamic Quotations of Weeks Past

1. Acquire knowledge. It enableth its possesor to distinguish right from wrong; it lighteth the way to Heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless, it guideth us to happiness; it sustaineth us in misery; it is an ornament amongst friends; and an armour against enemies.

   Prophet Muhammad (saw)

2. The map tells me that Mecca lies forty odd miles from Jidda; I don't know how that can be, for memory tells me it took us a good ten days to reach it. The camels were hooshed down early one afternoon. We were told that we were close to the Holy City, but that we could not go in till morning. The news ran through our hosts like a wild breeze, then an awesome silence fell as each pilgrim paused to realize the great fact. They seemed to all but hold their breath. The silence was broken then by a concerted shout of "Labayk!" That was what it sounded like to me, but I have been told it really has three syllables --"Lab-bay-yak." It is an all-encompassing word of praise and gratitude and submission to the divine will.

   That night the molvis prayed and instructed the faithful till nearly dawn. We were told we must not fight amongst ourselves, covet, or wish harm to anyone. We must enter the city clean of heart and clean in action. No oils or scents were to be used at ablutions. Should we break any of these laws, we must sacrifice an extra sheep or goat. Should anyone harm us we must not retaliate, even if it meant our death, always remembering that the ground we walked upon was holy in Allah's sight. I fell asleep at about midnight, and when I woke in the dawning, Ali was still at his devotions on his prayer rug.

   Most of our Indian pilgrims were very old; some even tottered on crutches and sticks. We all knew that hundreds of our company would not return again to their homeland, and many of them did not even wish to, for they deemed themselves doubly fortunate if their weary bodies could lie down in eternal rest in this, their Holy of Holies. So very many were weak and ill, coughing their lungs away, but still deep in the rheumy old eyes was the glint of a peace their souls longed for, a gleam of joy at something at last attempted but yet by no means done. For this coming to Mecca was not by a long way the end of their journey; it would not give them the right to wear the green turban of the hajji. The grand culmination would not come for many weeks yet.

   A short while after dawn--fasting, of course, [for it was Ramadan!]-- we mounted our camels again. As the light grew stronger, we were descending what looked like a steep basin. The mountains ringed the depression in the earth all around; and then as the sun rose, we saw the city far down below us--saw right into the heart of the Great Mosque itself. Racing up the mountainsides were the houses of Mecca. We caught glimpses as we went down of the large black Ka'ba, the five minarets with their onion domes, and the gilded dome over the Zamzam waters.

   Excerpt of Australian revert, Winifred Stegar's account of Hajj in 1927 from One Thousand Roads to Mecca - edited by Michael Wolfe, p. 362.

3. "Or think you that you will enter Paradise without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty and ailments and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed along with him said, 'When (will come) the Help of Allah?' Yes! Certainly, the Help of Allah is near!" (Quran 2:214)

   "Alif-Lam-Mim. Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: 'We believe', and will not be tested. And We indeed tested those who were before them. And Allah will certainly make known those who are true, and and will certainly make known those who are liars. (Quran 29:1-3)

   Mere lip profession of Faith is not enough. It must be tried and tested in the real turmoil of life. The test will be applied in all kinds of circumstances, in individual life and in relation to the environment around us to see whether we can strive constantly and put the Lord above self. Much pain, sorrow and self-sacrifice may be necessary, not because theya re good in themselves, but because they will purify us, like fire applied to a goldsmith's crucible to burn out the drosss.

   Ar Raheeq al Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar) Biography of the Noble Prophet (saw), pp.130-131

4. "You can rest assured, people of Kansas, we don't blow up buses. But we are people of Jihad, and Jihad is stuggling in the way of Allah, to bring down the barriers of injustice that deprive humanity from realizing their true potential, which is to be slaves of Allah."

   -Imam Hamza Yusuf

5. "Truly in the heart there is a void that can not be removed except with the company of Allah. And in it there is a sadness that can not be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him. And in it thereis an emptiness that can not be filled except with love for Him and by turning to Him and always remembering Him And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it would not fill this emptiness."

   - Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya

6. To all who love and reverence the Book,
   And earnestly strive to find in it,
   Not a reflection of their own fancies,
   But a clue to Unity, Discipline,
   And the Call to higher matters of the spirit,
   I dedicate this humble effort at Interpretation,
   The fruit of my Life, Thought, and Study.
   

   Abdullah Yusuf Ali (Servant of Islam)

   Dedication upon translation of the Quran into English in 1934

7. I am one of the many thousands of people who believe in Allah, recite His praises, avow His glory and majesty, and are strengthened by His bounty and support. I have come to know the Almighty through the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace. I read the Qur'an and I studied his biography; then I discovered my inner self harmonizing with his message. My heart and mind were refereshed by his call. Thus I became one of the vast multitude who have accepted Allah as their Lord, Islam as their way of life, and Muhammad as their guide and prophet.

   Muhammad Al Ghazali, from Remembrance and Prayer: The Way of Prophet Muhammad trans. Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, p. 1

8. A Righteous Husband

   ...'Do you remember, my dear husband, what I told you when we agreed to marry?'

   'Yes! You made some conditions, but I fear for you today because of your opposition to despots.'

   'I remember very well what I told you. As we were going to be married I told you there was something in my life that you needed to know about so that you wouldn't ask me about it later on, for I will never relinquish it...If...a clash is apparent between your personal interests and economic activities on the one hand, and my Islamic work on the other, and that I find my married life is standing in the way of da'wah and the establishment of an Islamic state, then, each of us should go our own way.

   'I expressed this to you then, and I remember well your tear-stained eyes and your questioning response: "I am asking you about your material requirements, you want none in respect of your dowry or marriage rights, but you ask me not to stop you from the way of Allah..."

   'Alhamdulillah, I reached an agreement with Hasan al-Banna during the trial of 1948, shortly before he was martyred. I had decided, then, to reliquish the idea of getting married for ever, so that I would devote my entire life to da'wah. I cannot ask you today to share with me this struggle, but it is my right on you not to stop me from jihad in the way of Allah. Moreover, you should not ask me about my activities with other mujahidin, and let trust be full between us. A full trust between a man and a woman, a woman who, at the age of 18, gave her whole life to Allah and da'wah. In the event of any clash between the marriage contract's interest and that of da'wah, our marriage will end, but da'wah will always remain rooted in me.

   'Do you remember all this, dear husband?'

   'Yes.'

   'I ask you today to keep your promise; do not ask me whom I meet and may Allah divide His reward for my efforts, if He accepts them, between us. I accept that ordering me to listen to you is amongst your rights, but Allah is greater than ourselves and His da'wah is dearer to us than ourselves. Besides, we are living in a dangerous phase of da'wah.'

   'Forgive me. carry on your work with Allah's blessing. If only I could live to see the establishment of an Islamic state and the Ikhwan's goal achieved. If only I was still in my youth to work with you!'

   Thereafter our work and activities intensified and a great many youth begain visiting my house at all times of the day and night. My righteous husband would hear a knock on our door in the middle of the night. He would get up to answer it and let whoever was our visitor into the study-room. Then he would wake the woman, who was in charge of running our home affairs, to prepare tea and food for our visitors. Next he would wake me up with extreme care, saying: 'Some of your children are in the study-room, they look tired from travelling.'

   Pulling on my clothes I would go and meet my visitors while my husband would go back to sleep, saying: 'Please wake me up, in case you pray fajr in congregation, if it's all right with you.'

   And, indeed, I would wake him up when we prayed in congregation. My husband always greeted all my visitors in a fatherly manner, full of love, care and compassion.

   Return of the Pharoah: Memoir in Nasir's Prison by Zainab al-Ghazali, pp. 37-39

9. Imam Ghazali (rh) says: 'It is incumbent on every person who believes in Allah and the Last Day that he should not be oblivious of auditing himself. Every breath of life is a precious jewel which can buy eternal treasures. Wasting these breaths or using them for detrimental purposes is such a great loss which no intelligent person could justify. When a person wakes up he tells himself that the only commodity he has is his life. When life perishes all his capital perishes. This is a new day that Allah has given as a further opporutnity to make amends. If He had taken his life away he would want to return for just a single day so that he could do good. So one should deem that one has died and has returned to the world for one more day. One should not waste these precious and invaluable jewels of life.

   The day has twenty-four hours. One should strive today and not become lazy and lethargic lest one loses the ranks of the 'Illiyeen (the highest rank of those in Paradise) and forever live in regret.'

   Taqwa: The Provision of Believers by Imam Ghazali, Imam Ibn Qayyim, Ibn Rajab, Hanbali, pp. 24-25.

10. "There was once a man, we are told, who never held his head up to the sky in all of forty years; so great were his modesty and humility before God, Glorified is He.

    Some people assumed that al-Rabi' ibn Khaytham must be blind, because he always lowered his head and kept his eyes half-closed. For twenty years he was a regular visitor to the home of Ibn Mas'ud. When the latter's maidservant saw him, she would say to her master: 'Your blind friend is here.' Ibn Mas'ud used to laugh when she said this. Whenever she went to answer the guest's knock at the door, she would see him with his head down and his eyes averted. Ibn Mas'ud would look at him and say, quoting from the Quran:

    'And give good tidings to the humble.' [al-Hajj, 22:34] (Wa-bashshiri-lmukhbitin.)"

    Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship by Al-Ghazali p. 49

11. "There is no veil between a slave and Allah except (the curtain of) his own negligence."

    From Shah Ismail Shaheed's Taqwiat ul Iman (Strengthening of the Faith.) Pp. 90. Dar-us-Salam Publications.

12. "It is only natural that they insist on measuring us with the yardstick that they use for themselves, forgetting that the ravages of time are not the same for all, and that the quest of our own identity is just as arduous and bloody for us as it was for them. The interpretation of our reality through patterns not our own serves only to make us ever more unknown, ever less free, ever more solitary."

    The Solitude of Latin America, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

13. The failure of various movements in the Islamic world and especially in the Arab countries, results from a spiritual emptiness in theses movements as well as in society generally. In such a situation the principles and institutions of Islam are forgotten. The westernized leaders and movements collapse when they encounter serious challenges. These leaders and movements and the systems of government and economics they try to impose have fallen because they lacked a solid base. They fell because they were artificial constructs copied from alien cultures and did not represent the Muslim community. Therefore they were rejected by it. This situation is comparable to a kidney transplant in a human body. Although the body is able to tolerate it painfully for a short period of time, eventually the kidney will be rejected and die.

    From Fathi Yakun's To Be A Muslim. Pp. 1. International Islamic Publishing House

14. Allah - glory be to Him and may He be exalted! - has given inanimate objects awareness and perception by which they glorify their Lord. The stones fall down out of fear of Him. The mountains and trees prostrate. The pebbles, water, and plants glorify Him. All this is going on but we are not aware of it. Allah the Great said, "There is nothing which does not glorify His praise, but you do not understand their glorification". (Quran 17:44) The companions heard the food that was being eaten glorifying Allah. That was because the companions had a transparency of heart that does not now exist among us. All these things are part of our world and yet we are in complete ignorance of them.

    p. 18 The Soul's Journey After Death by Ibn Al Qayyim.

15. Without high pitched propoganda or street peddling, or busybody hysterics, dedicated people in these and other places - among them young bi-lingual and bi-national "third generation" Muslims - are steadfastly working for Allah's cause, with persistence and determination. Seminar upon seminar, youth camp after youth camp, one information week after the other, and from pilgrimage to pilgrimage with unwavering faith, dedication and sincerity, in brotherhood - they perform the indispensible grass roots work dedicated at individual hearts and minds. One has to patiently tend to the roots of the sapling rather than pluck the fruits before their time.

    p.140 Journey to Makkah by Murad Hoffman

16. "The Tragedy is not the brutality of evil but the Silence of good people." Martin Luther King Jr.

17. Steadfastness was also his mien when he lost his own children who were a part of himself. Before the start of his Prophetic mission he lost two boys: al-Qasim and 'Abdullah, who were nicknamed at-Tahir and at-Tayyib. After the mission began, he lost three of his daughters, Zaynab, Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum, after they had married. Then after yearning a long time for another child, Allah gave him Ibrahim. He rejoiced greatly in him and found in him a replacement for those he had lost - and hoped that Allah would let him live to be a joy to him in is old age. However Ibrahim had not even reached the age of sixteen or eighteen months when he died. As he was dying, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was informed and he leant on 'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn 'Awf for support owning to the intensity of his grief. He went to see Ibrahim in his mother's lap, gasping for breath, and he placed him in his own lap and said, "Ibrahim, we cannot avail you against Allah at all. " Then he was silent and wept.

    When he was certain that Ibrahim wad dead, the tears flowed from his eyes and he said, "Ibrahim, if it had not been that it is a true command and a true promise that the last of us will meet the first of us, we would have been more greived for you than this." 'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn 'awf said to him when he noticed him weeping. "and you as well, Messenger of Allah?'"

    He said, "son of Awf, it is mercy." Then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The eye weeps and the heart grieves, but we only say what is pleasing to our Lord. We are grieved to part from you, O Ibrahim."

    The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was content with Allah's decree, patient in what He willed so that he said to the mountain to which he entrusted his beloved son: "O mountain, if you had experienced the like of what I have, you would have crumbled, but we belong to Allah and we return to Him."

    When the Muslims saw the grief of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, they tried to comfort him and he told them: "I have not forbidden grief. I have forbidden raising the voice in wailing. What you see in me is the effect of love and mercy in the heart. If someone does not show mercy, others will not show mercy to him. Allah shows mercy to those of His slaves who are merciful."

    ---Portrait of Human Perfection: A description of the appearance and character of the Prophet Muhammad. Shaykh Ahmad Muhammad Al-Hawfi

18. Anas relates that, "We asked the Prophet, 'O Messenger of Allah, shouldn't we refrain from calling others to goodness if we don't practice all good things ourselves, and shouldn't we refrain from forbidding wrong things until we ourselves have abstained from all the bad?' 'No,' he replied, 'You should call others to goodness even if you don't do all good, and you should forbid bad things even if you don't abstain from all of them yourselves.'" (Al-Tabarani)

    ---p.10 How To Tell Others About Islam by Yahiya Emerick

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