Prophet Abraham's Sacrifice, The Hajj and Decoding Scriptual Language

With The Name of Allah, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer. We seek His Guidance in all matters and Thank Him for Prophet Mohammed, His Excellent Role Model for Humanity. We offer prayers and ask Peace be upon him.


When we think about the Eid that comes on the 10th day of the month of Zul-Hajj we are looking at the movement where Prophet Muhammad (saw) left the idol worshiping that was prevalent in Mecca and moved to establish the pure worship of God in Medinah.He then returned victorious to Mecca where Islam was established for all time. We are also looking back into time at the movement of Prophet Abraham. The movement he established for thinking in rational terms about the Creator and His Creation. On average over 2.5 million Muslims attend the Hajj in Mecca, as an answer to Prophet Abraham’s prayer. "O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Thy Sacred House; in order, O our Lord, that they may establish regular Prayer: so fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits: so that they may give thanks. (Surah 14:37)


In the etymology of the word SACRAFICE are the two Latin words SACER and FACER. SACER – means Sacred, Holy. FACER means to make. As in to make acceptable to the One, that is The Holy One. Taken, as a concept Sacrifice originally meant Make acceptable to God.

The concept is a paradigm shift from taking something external and giving it as an expiation for sins or errors. The shift requires us to look not at others but within ourselves. The challenge is to make ones conduct and character acceptable to G-d. To be a living sacrifice, an actual model of Taqwa that is demonstrated in every aspect of our social and personal life.

It is easy to give someone something and feel very good about ourselves and say we have made a sacrifice. We may deprive ourself of something and say well that is the sacrifice. However, the original concept alerts us to the fact that this is not an external hollow act of atonement. This is a serious personal perpendicular alignment that will make us Saffat. This Sacrifice requires that we first be aligned under Tauheed. Our thinking must first operate under the Qur’an as our matrix. What we think is aligned with our outlook, (Eyes) which is aligned with our expressions,(Mouth) which is aligned with our good sentiments (Heart) which are aligned with our actions (Hands) which are aligned with our(Legs) movement or direction; then we will be strong in repelling evil. Before there is horizontal establishment in society there must first be perpendicular Alignment under G-d. It was the intellect of Prophet Abraham that challenged the establishment, the existing social order and their hoarding knowledge. It was his rational mind and using deductive reasoning and logic which was supported by the natural order of the creation that is what helped him to conclude that the Source of knowledge was free and the derivative knowledge should be freely accessible to all people. According to the Scripture the animal that is to be sacrificed, first has to be without defect. The animal has to be free of disease. This information says to the mind that whatever you are offering to G-d must be your best; it must be clean and not corrupt. Next we have to divide the sacrificial meat into Three sections for service. The Sacrifice is designed to benefit the family life. It is designed to assist the less fortunate and for the broader community life. Then the sacrifice does something that we would not expect it becomes that which we consume. We eat the sacrifice; we use it to fuel our life. The life of the family, the struggling among us and the community’s hopes and aspirations. This is a wonderful Sacrifice that evolves for those who are Saffat. All of this is tied to the Hajj. The macrocosmic Hajj and the Microcosmic Hajj. When Allah Says to us in Qur’an, “By those who range themselves in ranks, Those who so are strong in repelling evil, Those who thus proclaim the message of Allah! Verily, verily your God is One! [Surah Saffat -37:1-4] This Surah speaks of the character of those in this community. It speaks of their core. If we line up crooked people, no matter how straight the line they will still be crooked, they will not be effective in repelling their criminal conduct or its affects. So we know this alignment is not just a physical, external or cosmetic show of alignment. This is an alignment that starts in the microcosmic aspects of the human being and then we see its expression in that Great macrocosmic expression called the Hajj.

Decoding Scriptural Language:

Imagine a person living 3,000 or even 4,000 years ago wrestling with ways and means to share with later generations some special knowledge he has been favored with. He believes that through inspiration, he has been blessed with something of value for humanity but his experience also alerts him to the possibility that he will not be able to adequately provide this knowledge to his contemporaries. So he seeks what would be like a “Message in a Bottle” that can be cast onto the ocean of time in the hope that it will be found later by those that can benefit from the message. But he has to make sure that the message is in a form that can stand the test of the change. So he has to identify letters that can form an alphabet. From that he can form words and with those words share the message. This is serious work. The men and women that G-d inspired were not playing with their time or the message this was serious work for them. What is the alphabet? What could comprise a universal alphabet? Without knowing what language or dialect people will speak in the future, how do you make sure that whether those future folk are well educated or bi-lingual, how can you insure they will still get the message. You look for that which is constant, you look for universals. Universal images or picture words. You look for what G-d established in the environment in nature that will endur. You look for that which is constant. He knows the Sun, Moon, Stars, mountains, rivers, wind, water, all of these are constants. Their various stages are predictable. Water when heated will produce an invisible vapor, when frozen will make ice. So those wise people formed picture words from the natural surrounding of those universal constants and engaged in a conversation that transcends time.

They conveyed their message utilizing the vocabulary of nature and upon that landscape sent their message through time. So-called modern man then has the task of first understanding that G-d has prepared, provided, and preserved His guidance for humanity. Then man must discerns the Universal aspect of G-d’s revelation and seek to decipher the message so it can be not only appreciated but also applied in the present time. Thus man discovers the natural language in picture form as the vehicle for preserving the message. Then with an adult mind, the man unravels the guidance for his contemporary world. He cannot get the real benefit if he reverts to or relies solely upon the period of the conveyer of the message. To perform this monumental task G-d has blessed the contemporary time with the Decoder Extraordinaire
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, I am one of his students.

We must probe beyond the pistons of motivation, past the seat of locomotion until we arrive at the spring of desire whose home is Soul satisfaction in pleasing its Creator.

They Ask for Miracles - Khutbah Notes

With The Name of Allah, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer. We seek His Guidance in all matters and Thank Him for Prophet Mohammed, His Excellent Role Model for Humanity. We offer prayers and ask Peace be upon him.

Imam Tariq Ansaar Aquil
October 24, 2008


Miracles are demand from the prophets by the disbelievers. Yet when Allah sends a Prophet or Messenger to a people, it is because they have need of correction, guidance or warning. Most likely, they have strayed and are in danger of the wrath of Allah coming against them. They are in fact, in a situation that is much like a person sitting in the hospital waiting room, in need of some medical help by a doctor. However, unlike a physically sick person those who are sin sick began to ask the doctor to perform some medical miracle before I let you heal me. Make some ones cancer disappear, make some ones height increase, then, I will let you operate on me. Because their eyes are fixed upon the recipient of the revelation they say show us a record of accomplishment. If only they fixed their eyes upon Allah, The source of the revelation that is coming to the Prophet. Then the Miracles would be evident. We laugh at something like this, it sounds ridiculous to us that a sick person would be standing in the emergency medical ward demanding that the doctor perform some medical miracle, give them some sign before they will consent to be healed. This is just what the people of the past did and as Allah Says in the Qur’an, it continues to this day and time. Oh Mohammed, show us a miracle! They did not say that they would never believe the message brought by the Prophet; they did not say that what he was saying could not be true, they wanted to be shown something that would convince them that he was really a prophet and that his message was really from God. But walk into a hospital with a sick person, walk to the emergency ward and see a person standing there treating patients, with his stethoscope around his neck and wearing his white uniform, is it your first action to ask him if he is a real doctor? Is it your action to demand that this person show you some miracle? Why not? Because some things are obvious, the plastic gloves, the white uniform, the stethoscope are all signs that this is a doctor. While the people are asking the prophet for a miracle, signs that God spoke to him, were all around them and us today. Timeless signs of the Miracles. Surah 2:118, “Say those without knowledge: Why speaketh not Allah unto us? Or why cometh not to us a sign? So said the people before them words of similar import. Their hearts are alike". Perhaps when we are confronted by those who disbelieve we do not know what to say to them, so in the Qur’an Allah gave us the right words to say. In Surah 3:20 the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is told in revelation “So if they dispute with thee say: I have submitted my whole self to Allah and so have those who follow me.” Many today exhibit the same signs as those of the past in that they say in words and deeds; convince me to give my whole self in submission to Allah. Trying to hold back some portion of their plans, their will or ability to choose to willingly, submit to Allah. Trying to maintain some control over the major events in their lives. Man wants to be in the driver’s seat no matter how bad a driving record he may have, although we may have made a wreck of our lives and the lives of those close to us. So in an effort to put forward an argument people today say the same things those of old said, show us a sign, show us a miracle, then we will submit ourselves fully to this way of life that you have told us about, this Islam. What the human being seem to love is to be the boss, to be in charge, in control. To do what we want to do, when we want to. Surah 3:92 “By no means shall ye attain righteousness unless ye give (freely) of that which ye love.” The Muslims has submitted his will to the Will of Allah. The Muslim has not held back anything from being touched by the dictates of Allah in this religion of Al Islam. The nature of religion is faith and the nature of faith is sincerity. As we repeat the Shahaddah in our salat, we say we do not worship anyone besides Allah. We do not hold worthy of our sincere devotion anyone other than the Lord of the Worlds. In that same salah, while sitting as though in a contemplative position we say, “all services rendered by words and bodily action are do to Allah. We say our prayers and our sacrifices our life and our death is all for Allah the Lord of all the Worlds. In simple language, we say we hold nothing back from Allah. We open all of ourselves to the corrective and curative power of the revealed word of Allah in this Qur’an. Throughout the Qur’an, Allah reminds the human being that this is no piecemeal arrangement. Often the people of the past as well as today want to set one standard for themselves and another for Allah. We want to give a little and yet demand a lot from Allah. Show us a miracle say those who have no sight. Proof that a person has been blind is to be able to show them something that is right before their eyes and they never saw it before you showed it to them. None can make the blind to see except Allah and none can make the deaf to hear unless it be the will of Allah.
The believers say of the revelation “We hear and we obey”. None despairs of the Mercy of Allah except those already doomed to destruction.
The Qur’an is full of Miracles. The first revelation that came to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) should have been sufficient for the doubters. Read! In the name of your Lord Who created man from a clot of congealed blood. The birth of a child even today is regarded as a miracle. Allah Says He created everything from water. Imagine looking at all that we can see and being reminded that no matter how big, how small, what color, species of level of intelligence, all creation has come from water. Some of the creation floats on water some are so heavy they quickly sink below the water. Some of the creation lives far from the water and needs very little water to survive, while other creatures cannot survive without the water constantly around them. This is a Miracle! Then there is man created from a microscopic sperm drop, which progresses to the next stage and becomes a clot and then a fetus. After birth, we see the miracle of sight, speech, hearing, movement and thought, all from this form that started as a drop of sperm is not this a Miracle? Above the Earth Allah Says He Has suspended planets in space swimming along in their own orbits. No pillars, no ropes, no visible supports holding these giant planets and stars up in space, is that not a miracle! A visit to the desert with all its barren appearance then comes the rain and all this land that was dead splits open and seeds that lay dead below the surface spring to life. Is this not a miracle? The fact that from infancy the human being innately knows what is right from what is wrong and has built in sense of shame for conduct that is unbecoming human dignity, all these are in deed Miracles! It no wonder that the unbelievers are called blind, deaf and dumb, with all these Miracles in and around them they still call for more. So the Word of Allah is proven true against them when He says, none can make the deaf hear or the blind see, unless it be the Will of Allah. Asking for a Miracle is asking for proof. Allah Has assigned belief to the human being; He has not assigned being All Knowing to the human being. Yet, Allah Has supported the human beings inclination to believe in an All Powerful and All Knowing Creator.
A Creator that is a Benefactor to the human being as well as a source of Mercy, Allah Has done this with all of the signs inside and outside of man. So man shows ingratitude when he looks in the mirror with eyes that see and perceives it is his own self- image in that mirror and still ask for a Miracle! In our very own lives, we have experienced Miracles. It is truly a Miracle that after all the gross materialism projected in the world today, that we have been blessed to seek with strong inclination the worship of Allah. For a number of us we know it is a Miracle that we made it this long in life and double Miracle that we have been blessed to find the sanity and salvation of Al Islam.
For many they need look no further for a Miracle than the fact they have the strong desire to live decent upright lives. In conclusion, I find that one of the greatest Miracles can be found in the personage of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). I have seen men with strong desires to have improvement come to their community, to their families and themselves, I have seen them try to stay focused, to stay strong in the face of opposition and to produce tangible evidence of their commitment. They faltered, they were worn down over time and some were unmasked as wolves in sheep clothing. Some of them were paid high salaries in the hope of keeping them above temptation. None escaped the pull of materialism, of their own personal short -comings. So it became apparent at least to me that the whole of humanity could gather all their wealth, all their power, all their objects which man hoard and they still would not be able to persuade a man to live the life that Prophet Mohammed lived. We could not pay a man today to be as honest, as caring, as concerned about his relationship with God that he never failed to live up to the task of delivering the revelation from Allah without interjecting his own self into it. We could not hire anyone to be as balanced in his conduct as the Prophet. We could not supply anyone with enough material things that he would not ultimately be tempted. We know as a fact that Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was above suspicion, above reproach, honest, sincere and yet human in every respect. It is a Miracle in itself that a man the like which the whole of humanity could not produce today, lived and we have his Sunnah for our emulation.
Praise be to Allah the Lord of all the Worlds for the Miracle of the Qur’an, The Miracle of the Living model for humanity, Muhammad the Prophet (pbuh).

EID UL FITR - Khutbah Notes

With Allah’s Name
The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer
October 1, 2008
EID UL FITR

We are obligated to acknowledge that Allah is God Alone. That He does not have any partners that share in His ruler-ship of the creation. That He has no equal and that He is Unique. We also acknowledge that through His Mercy Allah has sent numerous Prophets, Messengers and Warner’s to humanity from Prophet Adam to Prophet Muhammad, the seal of the Prophets. [Peace be upon them all]

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Laa ilaaha illallahu, Wallahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Wa lillahil Hamd."

Although the fasting of Ramadan is done personally and privately
THERE WERE WITNESSES….

“We will, without doubt, help our messengers and those who believe, (both)
in this world's life and on the Day when the Witnesses will stand forth” (Holy Qur’an – 40:51)


Allah says in Qur’an We were never absent at any place or time
Again, we are told that the believers have two great times of happiness

1.when the fasting person during Ramadan breaks their fast
2.when the believer appears before his Lord

The Witnesses during the month of fasting saw those who abstained from eating and drinking

The witnesses saw those who avoided vain or non-productive talking
The witnesses saw these who left their beds, gave up their sleep to perform the night prayers

The witnesses saw those who made time to read the Revelation to Prophet Muhammad (saw) The Qur’an;

The charitable acts were seen and noted by the witnesses

And insha Allah when it is needed the most – perhaps on the day of judgment when the person is being directed towards their final place - Whether it is the fire or not THEN the WITNESS will stand For you saying ….
Oh my Lord I am a witness that this person fasted for your pleasure,
Oh, my Lord I am a witness that this person spent the night in prayer to You seeking Your forgiveness
Oh my Our Lord I am a witness that this person read Your revelation daily seeking to gain understanding, guidance and knowledge from You
Oh my Lord I am a witness to the charity of this person during the blessed month of Ramadan…

EID MEANS A RECURRING EVENT OR TIME

Fitr – means to break as in the celebration of the breaking the Fast, A celebration of breaking the bad habits, A celebration of breaking the hold shaitan had on us.
Fitr also means Nature. Eid Ul Fitr is A celebration of the natural pattern for the human being first seen in Prophet Adam and seen in its totality in Prophet Muhammad.

Dear believers let us keep Ramadan with us.
If the actions we were prescribed to follow during Ramadan were good enough to lock the Satan in chains then do not let him out. Keep shaitan locked away from you and keep seeking Allah’s Guidance, keep reading Qur’an.

Let us keep seeking The Mercy of Allah. Let us keep seeking to improve our lives in the quest to be our best self, a decent human being.

Dear Muslims - do not go backward. After gaining the moral high ground, do not give an inch to shaitan. Do not throw away this special blessing from Allah.

An excellent way of perceiving Ramadan is by starting at the end. At the end of Ramadan, we celebrate Eid Ul Fitr or the original pattern for human beings established by Allah in His creation, in Adam. If we work backward from that, if we look at what eleven months has down to distract, confuse, blur and seduce the human being from the human model, then we will see the function of Ramadan. So powerful is Allah that no matter what eleven months have done to pull us away from the correct conduct, in one month, in one special month, Ramadan – Allah can bring us back to basics. So powerful is Allah that after eleven months of being assaulted by the enemy of our best expressions, our best pursuits, that in one month, in one special month, Ramadan, Allah can reverse the affect and bring us back to a moral foundation.
In Qur’an Allah Says, there is a night in the last ten nights of Ramadan that is better than a thousand months. That is eighty-three years, or another way of seeing it, this is a lifetime. A night spent seeking the guidance of Allah with no other niyyah than what the Prophet had. Seeking guidance from Allah that aids man in being a service to humanity. He who is the most useful to humanity is the best among you. So a night, a single night spent sincerely seeking from Allah His guidance that will facilitate fulfilling the purpose of human existence is better than a lifetime spent in other pursuits.

Ramadan has given us the foundation from which we can grow. The foundation, which can launch us towards the model life of Muhammad, the prophet. It is from Ramadan that we can move through the (7)heavens. Eid ul Adha the Big Eid is seventy days from Eid ul Fitr.

Praise be to Allah who has guided us to the ways that we follow- praise be to Allah for His prophets, Messengers and Guides – and for this Day of Eid. Amen

By The Glorious Morning Light - Khutbah Notes

In the year 570 C.E. Mohammed Ibn Abdullah was born to Aminah and Abdullah in the city of Mecca, member of the Quraish tribe. A few months after becoming pregnant, Aminah lost her husband, Abdullah, leaving her as a single parent. When Mohammed reached the age of seven, Aminah passed away leaving Mohammed in the care of his uncle, who died a few years later. At the age of 23 Mohammed married a wealthy business- woman, by the name of Khadija.[pbuh] They had two sons, both of whom died in their infancy. Later Mohammed would have four daughters and another son, but that son would also die. With all the hardship and tragedy that may have come into our personal lives today few, if any of us can compare with the events that beset Prophet Mohammed in his family life. At the age of forty Allah began the revelation of the Qur’an to Mohammed and his mission as a prophet of Allah started.

In the Qur’an Allah refers to Prophet Mohammed as an excellent model for humanity. Looking at the losses in his life. Seeing a man that never had a father in his life, raised by a single parent and then the loss of her. For eleven years Prophet Mohammed taught one basic theme, “There is no God but Allah”. The revelations came to him almost constantly and then they stopped. The enemies of Islam began to say that he had been making up the verse that he recited and now he had run out. The rumors spread that perhaps God had abandoned him and doubt began to appear among some people that maybe he was not the messenger of God. Then Allah revealed Surah Dhuha, or The Glorious Morning Light.


1. By the glorious morning light
2. And by the night when it is still-
3. Thy Guardian – Lord Hath not abandoned thee, nor is He displeased.
4. And verily the Hereafter will be better for thee than the present.
5. And soon will thy Guardian – Lord give that wherewith, thou shalt be well pleased.
6. Did He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter and care?
7. And He found thee wandering, and He gave thee guidance.
8. And He found thee in need, and made thee independent
9. Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness.
10. Nor repulse him who asks.
11. But the bounty of thy Lord, rehearse and proclaim.

The contrast here is in the day and the brightness of the rising sun after a dark period of night and all that comes with the absence of light. The emphasis is on the period when no revelation came to the prophet and it seemed dark to those around him. It seemed that maybe the revelation was over, finished, dead. Allah is showing them, yes, it seems dark when the light of revelation paused but do not despair, the sunlight of revelation will come again just as surely as the Sun will rise after the darkness of the night.
The revelation that came to Prophet Mohammed was among other things, sure guidance that produced certainty that he was on the right path. It validated his mission and gave purpose and a goal to the young followers of Al-Islam. It was a confirmation of their new way of life. But when it stopped, wonder and uncertainty set in. Remember Allah Has said that Mohammed is a model for us, what happened to him and his early followers is a type if model or example of the things that are common to the life of us all. Mohammed did not live a supernatural life that is foreign to the common mans’ life. It would have no validity for us if this life was not typical. But his life was typical and the things that happened to him and the way that he handled those things was the Model for us today.
There are times in life when things seem to stop working like before. Things that used to make us feel like we are “The Man” or “The Woman” no longer seem to work. When the easy things that we used to get away with, everyone seems to be up on them now.
There are times in our lives when the things that brought us fame, prestige and notoriety no longer do so, and we begin to fee quite ordinary. At those times the people around us may start to ask, has he lost it? Has he lost his touch for making money, setting up businesses, making people happy, getting things done? Was he just all talk? Did he ever really have it? Maybe it was just luck that has now turned to bad luck. Surah 93:1, invites us to say, by The Glorious Morning Light that will surely come after this darkness, I’ll be alright. Surah 93:2. Tell them, tell yourself, it may be still and quiet now, it may seem like I am at rest and nothing is happening in my life, but I’ll be alright when the morning comes. Surah 93:4, is saying, tell them and yourself, in a minute, not very much longer, (thereafter) the good times, the progress, the success is going to resume.
If you come across a person that is not familiar with the human biology they will make the same mistake. It’s like the heart beat. The right ventricle fills up with blood, then it pauses and passed the blood to the left ventricle and it pauses then the heart muscle pumps that supply of blood to the rest of the body. But a person that is not familiar with that process of life would take a listening device and hear the heart beat then it would be silent there would be the pause. If they acted to hasty, if they did not have faith that all this marvelous machinery called the human body would not have been made by Allah for heartbeat and then to cease. If they could not wait through that brief night for the morning, they would declare that the person was dead. Oh! My goodness the heart has stopped and the man is dead. Knowledgeable people standing around would start to laugh and say no! Silly person, just have patience for a second, not a minute not an hour, just a second and the heart beat will resume, this is not death, it’s just a pause. God Has not abandoned us. Dear Muslims, although times maybe hard and the situation may seem like it’s been night forever, Allah Has not abandoned us and He is not angry with us to deprive us of His Mercy. If that were so we would not be here having this opportunity to submit our wills and serve Him. Even if you do not hear anything beating, nothing seems to be coming to you of benefit, trust in the promise of Your Lord and my Lord, He Has abandoned us and He is not angry with us, this is just a pause in the life and what comes after this experience is promised to be better than what we have right now, if we trust in Allah.

I have seen a person laying so still that people around then became alarmed and thought perhaps they were dead. They were not moving, not speaking, so those around them may have thought they were paralyzed, dead, finished. But when we know that they were just sleeping then we are assured that they will move again, they will speak again, we just have to wait for them to get up in the morning. Just think back to Surah 93:6, about the orphan. Yes, Prophet Mohammed was orphaned, yes this applies to him, and yes it applies to us in this time as well. What is an orphan? It’s a person without a mother without a father. Think about this, a person is said to be mothering you when they treat you in a certain manner, called a maternal manner. When they look after certain needs in your life, like seeing that your meals are healthy, that you learn common courtesy, that you are made aware or made sensitive to others and that you learn basic family and social values as well as productivity. Now, the father figure embraces the concept of instilling leadership, discipline, strength, and sacrifice for the advancement of the common good. In light of this, have you or I been orphans in this society or not? Surah 93:7, have we not been wandering from fad to fad, from one uncertainty to another, from one false image of ourselves to another? Have we not wandered and wandered what we should be doing with our life, where we should be doing it? How to handle all the things that the world is throwing towards us today, how to handle these ever changing circumstances? And is not Surah 93:8, ever so true? Did not Allah find us in need of social, academic and economic improvement? Islam, that way of life based upon the revealed word of Almighty Allah connected with us at the point of our needs. It found us in want of an answer to the many and varied problems we have faced. In the revelation is this message, God has not abandoned you, God is not angry with you, and if you just have the faith that it takes to believe that after the darkness of tonight the sun will rise in the morning. If we just have the faith that after whatever we are facing right now as our night, that Allah says, the hereafter, right here after a brief night, our life will be better in the most important ways, better than it is right now. And if you still have any doubts then Allah directs us to reflect on what He has already done for us in our life, simply in brining us to Islam, to an opportunity to have the stability, the progress, the establishment in our life of those necessary elements for the success of the human being.
Reflect on how after so many years of wandering and wondering how Allah has brought us to a state of mind where we know what we want to do, where we want to go and can see the way to get there.
Dear Muslims, never despair of the mercy of Allah. Prophet Mohammed did not despair; his message was not for him. It was for those who follow him, both then and now. Look at our present situation as the pause between the heartbeats as the sleepily night before the wakening day, as the night before the dawn. Take courage, take heart, and trust in Allah that His word is true. Do not beat up yourself with despair and doubt, wondering if there is a curse on you or if you are under some damning punishment. It’s just the night before the day and Allah is the Lord of the Night and the Lord of the Day, so we are always in His care.
We have a role model that had no father figure in his life, then no mothers’ care. Who felt the pains of losing his children and his wife, but never became a criminal. He never turned to dope or alcohol; he did not become bitter and say the world is going to pay for all his pain that I have been put through. He is our model of conduct. The words in Surah Dhuha are a message of hope to us all. May Allah Bless us with the light of understanding and the faith to follow his noble example Prophet Mohammed, and to work patiently during dark night in the full knowledge that we will soon see the Glorious Morning Light.

Odyssey of Love - By Tariq Ansaar Aquil

ODYSSEY OF LOVE

 By: Tariq Ansaar Aquil







Now that I’ve found that things that I wanted in life were not really real
And the things that are lasting – the things that have value
The eye cant see you just feel

I’ve been to the healers, the wheelers and dealers
The girls that said they’d love me for life
They never changed things it happen when you came
You change the course of my life

I’ve faced indecision, exotic religions
Sorrow that few could survive
Although it pained me – somehow it trained me
Slowly it opened my eyes

Wherever life plants you
Lets it enhance you
Take root or you’ll wither away

The darker the night
The brighter the light
When you finally reach your new day

I believe true love has finally found its way into my world
And my fantasy has come true for me on this odyssey of love.

THIS OLD FLOOR - By Tariq Ansaar Aquil

THIS OLD FLOOR
–By-
Tariq Ansaar Aquil

Open the door to the room. It's empty! Does it surprise you that there is nothing there? Is it better or worse because of its lack of furnishings? Because of the bareness of its walls, its floor? Does its hard wood floor beckon you or does it repulse you for all its oldness, its reminiscence of times long past, its un-usualness with modern textures and constructions?
Are you angry because you were there when it was danced upon as a grand floor, run upon by children chasing themselves?
Look how that old floor stands alone, not even the food that once spilled from your hands has left a stain look closer there is not a trace of the foot prints that the feet of a dozen or more made as they sought the comfort of the rooms that criss-crossed and connected this grand floor.
There is dust in the corners of the room; dust that gives a thin-coated luster to the floor, yet the floor stands alone, as if the dust were a badge of its valor and not a detractor from its grandness. And yet for all of its oldness, this floor is strong and safe.
As you stand upon it there is a feeling of security radiating up through the beams that form its interconnecting planks and a sense of pride comes from knowing that years from this time this floor will stand, strong dignified and securing to those that grace it.

No one may ever raise a flag to the memory of this old floor, nor would it be beyond reasoning that this floor would go unsung for all its pleasures and delights, but for you, perhaps this floor will hold the memories of a life time, memories that are so entwined with this grand floor that its place is engraved in the annals of time.
For your mind is the bearer of those things of which eternity is made And this support, this platform, this upholder of you and all that was good and true in those times that have fled into corners covered with dust also; this floor will always be all that and more for those who knew it well!