Tag: blackburn

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Current Affairs articles

Boycotting 

740 words – 4 minutes read

In our Deen, we have a principle that when it comes to all things, anything is permissible unless there is evidence to deem it prohibited with the exception of acts of worship. When it comes to anything outside of the realm of worship, it is neutral unless there is something that makes it prohibited or praiseworthy. So when you look at any political strategy, you’re not going to be asking the question about whether or not it’s prohibited on the basis of trying to prove whether Nabi ﷺ did it. You’re going to be looking at the implications of that action and if there are any explicit or ambiguous things that come with it that are in violation of the Deen OR if there are elements of it that serve a noble cause and this, if practised with the right intention, could actually be rewardable. Boycotting is one those things that you don’t need to prove whether it’s from the Sunnah but rather analyse the strategy and see how we can make it both useful and faithful.

Sometimes, some things do not have to be directly from sacred texts but from the natural sense of honour and protectiveness and dignity that Allah naturally puts inside us, within our fitrah that naturally makes you feel an aversion or an affinity to certain things. For example, if you were living in Makkah as a secret Muslim and Nabi ﷺ had already migrated to Madinah, would you still do business with Abu Jahal? With Abu Sufyan? Without an order coming from Nabi ﷺ, we would know inside of us that something feels wrong about this. Going to the marketplace and dealing with these people… something feels off without having to hear a single hadeeth of Nabi ﷺ. This should be a natural feeling within us for our brother and sisters.

An incident that comes to mind is something that happened in Madinah between the wife of Nabi ﷺ, Umm Habibah and her father Abu Sufyan. When Abu Sufyan came to speak to Nabi ﷺ regarding the violation of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, he entered their home and his daughter, Umm Habibah RA, picked up the mattress Nabi ﷺ would sit on in a way that she could sit on it but not her father, Abu Sufyan (maybe folded it in half). She knows what her father does to the Muslims, she knows her father is an enemy of Islam. Her father was bewildered and asked, ‘Are you protecting that from me or me from it?’ She replies, ‘No, I don’t find it befitting that you sit on the mattress of Nabi ﷺ.’ That wasn’t scriptural. That came from a place of dignity and honour for Nabi ﷺ just like how we should feel for our brothers and sisters who are persecuted by the enemy.

Moving on, boycotting is a form of character building. Yes, it’s inconvenient. Yes, it hampers your privileges. Yes, it means you may have to do things the long and hard way. But this controlling of the nafs will be beneficial in the long run. It’s a personal thing. It strengthens you spiritually because you didn’t feed into every whim and desire of your nafs. It’s a type of personal growth.

Thumama RA was a powerful merchant based in Yamamah from where the Makkans would buy their wheat. In his anger against the Quraysh, he put a stop on the wheat exportations to Makkah to the extent that the prices of wheat shot up, there was extreme hunger in Makkah. This was the first boycott from a Sahabi. Nabi ﷺ didn’t admonish him and him not saying anything is paving way to its permissibility. The boycott was only lifted when they wrote to Nabi ﷺ begging for it to be lifted and out of the kindness of Nabi ﷺ, the boycott was ended and Thumama RA restarted the exporting of wheat into Makkah.

The concept of reducing/removing sins will forever stand and we understand that there are wider ramifications to our sins. That is a personal thing between you and Allah and one that has to be worked on always and forever. Boycotting comes under the ‘body is like one Ummah’ hadeeth. Compassion, empathy, doing EVERYTHING we possibly can. 

Nabi ﷺ didn’t explicitly go out in protests, didn’t petition, didn’t lobby…that doesn’t mean it is impermissible or that it doesn’t have positive results.

Umm Khadeejah

10th Muharram 1447

Categories
Poems

Ten Years On….

27th November 2013 – Nazir Ahmed Satia (Allah drench him in his mercy)

Parents live forever. People say that when parents die, the world comes to an end. The house looks empty. But I feel that parents live forever and they stay with us. It’s us who forget them. The matter of fact is that a brother has the eyes of the beloved father, a sister has a pretty face like a compassionate mother, a sibling smiles like a dad, or a sister cooks like a mum.

Parents don’t die. They never leave us. They live among us. They live in us. We are the reflections of our parents. Despite their physical absence, they continue to live in us. When you want to remember your parents, when you want to see them, when you want to be with them, simply gather your siblings around you. You will find the mesmerising smile of the mother in one sibling, the soothing voice of the father in another. You will feel your parents very close to you. All around you. Deep inside you. The garden of love that parents cultivate and grow with love, from the time that you are born, with the hard work of their tears and blood; it will continue to bloom, unaffected by the cycles of tough weathers of life. They shelter us in tough times. But there are times, when we forget all their hard work and destroy the paradise that they built, with our selfishness, hatred, and opportunistic attitudes.

Parents don’t die. We put them to death. Love your parents. Love your siblings. Continue to feed the garden that parents cultivated with love and compassion so that it never stops blooming and blossoming. You will make your world a living paradise on Earth. A heaven that only knows love, compassion, care, respect and it has you with your loved ones around you.

Allah forgive our parents and have mercy on them, accept their good deed and grant them Jannah, Ameen

Categories
Dhulm/Oppression

I am Israel

I am Israel – written by Professor Norman Finkelstein.

‘I am Israel. I came to a land without a people for a people without a land. Those people who happened to be here, had no right to be here, and my people showed them they had to leave or die, razing 400 Palestinian villages to the ground, erasing their history.

I am Israel. Some of my people committed massacres and later became Prime Ministers to represent me. In 1948, Menachem Begin was in charge of the unit that slaughtered the inhabitants of Deir Yassin, including 100 women and children. In 1953, Ariel Sharon led the slaughter of the inhabitants of Qibya, and in 1982 arranged for our allies to butcher around 2,000 in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.

I am Israel. Carved in 1948 out of 78% of the land of Palestine, dispossessing its inhabitants and replacing them with Jews from Europe and other parts of the world. While the natives whose families lived on this land for thousands of years are not allowed to return, Jews from all over the world are welcome to instant citizenship.

I am Israel. In 1967, I swallowed the remaining lands of Palestine – East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza – and placed their inhabitants under an oppressive military rule, controlling and humiliating every aspect of their daily lives. Eventually, they should get the message that they are not welcome to stay, and join the millions of Palestinian refugees in the shanty camps of Lebanon and Jordan.

I am Israel. I have the power to control American policy. My American Israel Public Affairs Committee can make or break any politician of its choosing, and as you see, they all compete to please me. All the forces of the world are powerless against me, including the UN as I have the American veto to block any condemnation of my war crimes. As Sharon so eloquently phrased it, “We control America”.

I am Israel. I influence American mainstream media too, and you will always find the news tailored to my favor. I have invested millions of dollars into PR representation, and CNN, New York Times, and others have been doing an excellent job of promoting my propaganda. Look at other international news sources and you will see the difference.

I am Israel. You Palestinians want to negotiate “peace!?” But you are not as smart as me; I will negotiate, but will only let you have your municipalities while I control your borders, your water, your airspace and anything else of importance. While we “negotiate,” I will swallow your hilltops and fill them with settlements, populated by the most extremist of my extremists, armed to the teeth. These settlements will be connected with roads you cannot use, and you will be imprisoned in your little Bantustans between them, surrounded by checkpoints in every direction.

I am Israel. I have the fourth strongest army in the world, possessing nuclear weapons. How dare your children confront my oppression with stones, don’t you know my soldiers won’t hesitate to blow their heads off? In 17 months, I have killed 900 of you and injured 17,000, mostly civilians, and have the mandate to continue since the international community remains silent. Ignore, as I do, the hundreds of Israeli reserve officers who are now refusing to carry out my control over your lands and people; their voices of conscience will not protect you.

I am Israel. You want freedom? I have bullets, tanks, missiles, Apaches and F-16s to obliterate you. I have placed your towns under siege, confiscated your lands, uprooted your trees, demolished your homes, and you still demand freedom? Don’t you get the message? You will never have peace or freedom, because I am Israel.’

– written by Professor Norman Finkelstein.

Please also read ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’, by Israeli history professor and activist Ilan Pappé . 

https://youtu.be/vPndQGImVMc?feature=shared

How Palestine Became Occupied – watch the video above

The world has been lied to for 73 years. The Palestinian people are being destroyed before our eyes, and many of those who have been shouting loudly, ‘Never again’, look away.

Categories
Poems

What Makes a Dad?

Allah took the strength of a mountain,

The majesty of a tree,

The warmth of a summer sun,

The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature,

The wisdom of the ages,

The power of the eagle’s flight,

The joy of a morning in spring,

The faith of a mustard seed,

The patience of eternity,

The depth of a family need,

Then Allah combined these qualities,

When there was nothing more to add,

He knew his masterpiece was complete,

And so, He called it Dad

In memory of my dad eight years on… Allah drench him in His mercy.

Categories
Current Affairs articles

Twenty Lessons from 2020

Ali (Allah be pleased with him) once was asked: “How have you recognised your God?”

He (Allah be pleased with him) answered: “I recognised God through revoking the determinations and breaking the intentions. When I determined and I was prevented from achieving my determination, and when I intended and fate contradicted my intention, I realised that the Administrator was other than me.”

And so this uneventful year draws to a close and I find myself thinking how much history 2020 made. Be it the pandemic, racial tensions or presidential campaigns across the pond, 2020 has been one long rollercoaster.

Life is full of surprises and if anything, this year has shone a light on how amazingly resilient Allah has created us all. Just when we are about to put our feet up and become a little complacent with our routine in life, the setting suddenly changes and we’re forced to recompose, reshuffle the pieces and refocus the lens a little. And in the midst of this restructure, our unsteady walk exposes us, we trip, we fall and we fail…but we brush ourselves off and stand back up. A quote of JK Rowling comes to mind that ‘It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.’ This year has been a year of ‘falling’ for many of us but with the tradition of reflection (Muhasabah – account ourselves to ourselves) maybe we can transform the ‘falls’ into life-changing goals.

The biggest lesson that was manifested this year is that ‘Allah never tests a soul more than it can bear’ (Quran, 2:286). There are so many beautiful lessons to learn from this verse alone that could put this whole year into perspective for many of us. This world is a test and each and every one of us will be tested in various ways. A utopian society does not exist and 2020 has very clearly shown us that. Once we truly understand this, we can start to formulate that as Muslims, it is crucial we believe that Allah tests us to make us, not break us. When total fear ensued in March, Allah’s powerful promise in the Quran should have been our zen and reassurance amidst the chaos. Our goal for 2021 is to place our complete trust in Him SWT and His plan. He SWT doesn’t leave us, but we leave Him. He doesn’t move an inch away from us and is closer to us than our jugular vein.

As Ramadhan drew closer and it dawned on us that the Masajid would remain closed and Taraweeh Salah will have to be performed in the homes, a heart-breaking sadness cloaked us. Who will be leading? What will be prayed? How much Qur’an do we know? Will it even feel like Ramadhan? As these questions were being discussed in every household up and down the country, a new lesson was emanating. Alhamdulillah, many homes echoed with the confident recitations of their Huffadh but the hard truth is that there still remained a huge number of us who hadn’t prioritised reading and learning the Quran enough to be able to stand up and confidently take on the musalla. We were always so reliant on the Ulama and the Huffadh that we had become complacent with our own learning journey.  This reminded me of how I will be alone in my grave, just me and my deeds – no Hafidh to fall back on, no Alim to rely on, no one. The closure of the Masajid and the emptiness that came with it threw us into frantic jeopardy but ‘A believer is never stung from the same hole twice’ (Hadith) and so Ramadhan 2020 taught us to never stop learning. Know 10 Surahs from Juz Amma? Make it your goal to learn another 10 this year. Learn Surah Yaseen. Learn Surah Mulk. Learn Surah Rahman. Never stop learning. Create an insatiable hunger for learning. When you get to the end of your life, you want to be able to tell yourself that I spent every year of my life learning something new from the Qur’an and didn’t stay stuck on ‘Madrasah Mode’ from my teenage years.

2020 brought out some of the ugliest faces yet the most soul-soothing actions. Whilst on the one hand racism hit another high, unity in the face of tragedy outshone. The pandemic may have thrust us into isolation but it brought a sense of togetherness that was not seen before. Communities came together, putting aside creed, caste and religion, to help the elderly, vulnerable, isolated with food packages, medicines, shopping and that’s just the tangible needs. Neighbours checked in on one another, more phone calls were made to friends and family, messages dropped in asking how we’re doing. Let’s make it our mission to continue this fulfilling deed. Send that text message, make that two-minute phone call, and don’t just call someone when you need them. Mother Teresa once said, ‘Loneliness is a terrible poverty’ and there are millions of people suffering from that lack of friendship. In these difficult times, make someone feel heard. Our beloved Prophet ﷺ said, ‘You won’t be able to take care of everyone financially; instead, let your cheerful face and good manners take care of all of them’ (Musnad Bazzar).

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Now we are at the suggestive, somewhat enticing, light at the end of the tunnel stage of the pandemic, we are tested once again. The vaccine is available and whatever side of the fence you sit on, remember that Allah is the Controller. Everything truly belongs to Him alone and he holds authority over everything and everyone. One Quran verse frequently came to mind at different times this year.  Allah says, ‘لمن الملك اليوم، لله الواحد القهار ‘For whom is the dominion today? For Allah, the One, the Supreme’ (Quran, 40:16).  Allah gives and Allah takes. Let’s not talk as if this year has been a year of just the revolutionising scientists against the evil virus, forgetting all along that Allah is the Master, the Withholder, and the Bestower of all things.

It has been a challenging year but for the intelligent believer, no challenge comes without changes.  We may want to be quick to forget all that 2020 put on our plate but let’s remember the lessons it taught us and the goals it guided us to make. 

Constantly ask Allah for ease

Ismail ibn Nazir Satia (one who is in dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure)

15 Jamada al-Awwal 1442

Categories
Personalities

40 years… رحمهم الله

25th November 1980, five Ulama became Shaheed in a fatal car accident:

Mawlana Ibrahim Desai Saheb RH

Mawlana Yakoob Desai Saheb RH

Mawlana Ali Hassan Saheb RH

Mawlana Umarjee Saheb RH

Abdul Rashid Bhai (Driver) RH

Bayaan (Urdu) in Darul Uloom Chatam, Ontario, Canada.

Wednesday 25th July 2018, by Sheikhul Hadith Hadhrat Mawlana Yusuf Motala Saheb (RH)

Yaqoob Desai, who is a Mishkat student at this Darul Uloom [Chatam, Ontario Canada], and his paternal grandfather and other teachers used to travel from Preston to Darul-Uloom [Bury] daily in a car […] their arrival time used to be 9am, and at times they would either arrive five minutes early or five minutes late.


[One day] they didn’t arrive on time and we [Sheikhul Hadith Hadhrat Mawlana Yusuf Motala Saheb (db)] grew worried as to ‘what has happened?’ We rang their home but they didn’t have any clear explanation. However; after one and a half hours we were made aware of the tragic news that the car had been involved in an accident – all the passengers in the car, including the Ulama, the teachers and also the driver, had ALL been martyred!


His [Yaqoob Desai’s] paternal grandfather Mawlana Mohammed Yaqoob Saheb (ra), who was my true friend, also achieved martyrdom. […] 
After the accident and when the Janazah of his paternal grandfather was lifted and taken to the graveyard, firstly, the Janazah of Hadhrat Mawlana Ibrahim Desai Saheb was placed and behind it Moulana Yaqoob Saheb’s Janazah was placed (Janazah Salah led by Hadhrat Mawlana Qari Tayyab Saheb RH).


After the burial, a young man who was from the Kazi Family approached me and spoke, “When the two Janazah was placed on the ground I see [a spiritual vision] that Hadhrat Mawlana Ibrahim Desai Saheb moved the lid of his coffin, opened the lid and placed the lid back on the coffin and he then sat down on top of it.” 


He [young man] is seeing all this whilst awake, and all around there are thousands of Muslim people, who participated in the burial, yet none of these people see anything – he; however, is witnessing this!
[He young man continued] “I then see Mawlana Yaqoob Saheb, and he also opens the lid and places the lid back on, he then sits on top of it – both [deceased] have a pamphlet in their hands …!”

Virtues of Martyrs, by Hadhrat Mawlana Hashim Saheb (Allah preserve him)


We had a pamphlet titled ‘Martyrs of Darul-Uloom,’ consisting of 6 or 7 pages, printed on behalf of the Darul-Uloom which highlighted who these [scholars] people were, where they were from, what responsibilities they had, what knowledge they possessed and their characteristics were all mentioned.


[He young man continued] “Both [deceased] are passing it [pamphlet] to one another whilst smiling and saying, ‘Look, what they’ve written about us?”     

Categories
Current Affairs articles

An Eye-Watering Story

I am Gujarati: Hands Off My Mosque

ومن أظلم ممن منع مساجد الله أن يذكر فيها اسمه

“And who is more oppressive than he who prevents the mosques of Allah from mentioning His name.”

I write this with a heavy heart and a tear in my eye, never before have I written on behalf of someone who is deceased. That’s right, this message is on behalf of a girl who passed away aged 7.
Before she passed away she desired to visit a Masjid, the house of Allah, but she was refused from several Gujarati Masjids in Blackburn. Why?

One Masjid said her wheelchair will make our carpets dirty?!


Another Masjid said, if we have a fire she will cause a hazard! (She wanted a tour, not admission).


The Masjid that finally gave permission said, just look from the shoe racks??? Which she did and tearfully said, “Mum, is it because I am disabled I didn’t get a proper tour?” Heartbreaking!


In the end, the Abu Hanifah Foundation gave her a proper tour, their students sang Nasheeds for her and gave her a crystal frame…

THIS IS ISLAM! Respect to AHF, I salute you. 


And shame on the others, you disgust me. I must mention that the girl was a Pakistani and Pakistani is not a code word for Patels. Maybe if she was a Patel, she would have been allowed? 


Dear Gujarati Masters,
I’ll call you by the title you love, let me massage that ego for you. I’m happy to be your slave and servant. Your Masjids are no longer the houses of Allah, they are clubs, where the Gujarati Master throws his weight around and stamps his authority down. Perhaps it doesn’t work at home on the wife and kids?


If your heart doesn’t irk with this story you need to do an “Iman test” toooo many people testing for Corona and not checking that their Iman is positive. Just because these Imams don’t have disabled children, that doesn’t mean you don’t care about disabled children. This family is not related to me, nor do we have disabled children in the family, Alhumdu lillah… but the story still bothered me for nights. 


Before you blame committees of the Masajid… stop right there! The family approached the Imams who are very outspoken on the Mimbar but fragile on the inside I guess, it’s easy to talk the talk I guess. Gujaratis are good for establishing institutions, but not for establishing JUSTICE!

Ulama are incompetent when it comes to these diversity issues. Islam is not just about Salah and Sawm. Islam is a diverse religion, let Ulama open their minds, open their hearts and open their Masajid.

Ismail ibn Nazir Satia (one who is in dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure)

24 Muharram 1442

Categories
Miscellaneous

9 Tips to Improve Your English

1) Know your audience and choose your style accordingly.

2) Read and practise! Read newspapers especially broadsheets, highlight words and remember them. 

3) Listen and practise! Listen out for beautifully spoken English, find scholars online who speak well and use good terminology, write down the words they use and implement them into your own terminology.3) Use Apps such as Grammarly

4) Find your best ‘English’ person and ask them nicely to proofread and/or give feedback. Remember, this takes time so try not to become too reliant and learn from them so you can become confident yourself.

5) Use a dictionary NOT necessarily a thesaurus. It’s always cringingly obvious when someone has tried too hard; use sophisticated language but let it flow naturally. Like Orwell said, why use a long word when a short word will do.

6) Commas and apostrophes are cool. Teach yourself the rules regarding these.

7)  Vary your sentence lengths so your writing sounds interesting/exciting/dramatic. Use conjunctions to create longer sentences but use short sentences too. A short sentence immediately after a long sentence always adds drama. 

8) Keep it clean and simple. Don’t over complicate your writing in the attempt to impress. This will only discompose your reader and the main purpose of your writing will be lost.

9. Finally, start a blog. Writing will help you tremendously.

Ismail ibn Nazir Satia (one who is in dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure)

10th Muharram 1441

Categories
Current Affairs articles

Contemplations on Covid-19

Lessons and reflections during the lockdown:

  1. Learn to appreciate your family. We might argue with siblings and get annoyed, we might dislike the decisions made by our parents, but there are so many people out there that have lost their parents or they’re distant for whatever reason. During the lockdown, these people realised what a close-knit family means.
  2. We must appreciate our deen – Islam. Many of us received Islam on a plate, we were born in Muslim families, hence we take it for granted. Covid-19 has brought many people closer to Islam, through sickness and health. We all remembered Allah SWT more, whether it was out of fear or thankfulness.
  3. Which brings me on to valuing your health. When we are young we think we will live forever and nothing can harm us. As we get older and our immune system gets weaker, we understand we must appreciate our good health. Especially our mental health is very important. Going for walks regularly and exercising.
  4. Life is the most unpredictable thing, but it is certain. Nobody debates death. In the UK almost 50,000 lives have been lost due to this pandemic. Make the most of your life, live for today, don’t delay good work.
  5. Before the lockdown, we did what we wanted to, when we wanted to, value your freedom. Many countries have a lockdown all-year-round under the dictatorship rule. Value your house and safety and security.
  6. The importance of unity – the virus is not a one-man battle, we are ALL in the same boat and we ALL need to work together to overcome it. Let’s stop discriminating some communities and blaming them for the spread of the virus.
  7. Charities have been great during the lockdown, hats off to all the churches and mosques who opened their doors to help the vulnerable. Many who lost their jobs were in need of basic food parcels, we must learn to appreciate the little things in life.
  8. Everyone had more time, kids were at home with online school and Madrasah. Parents were WFH and Masjids were closed so we were praying at home. This all meant we had more free time: to waste or to value? Your time is your life, value every minute, rather every second.
  9. If you still have a job, be thankful. Most of us get bored or fed up of the 9-5 system and feel it’s’ a burden. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and are struggling financially. Be grateful and say, Alhumdu Lillah for your income; little or large! You have a roof over your head… Ma Sha Allah!
  10. Be a ray of sunshine – it doesn’t take much to brighten someone’s day.

Ismail ibn Nazir Satia (one who is in dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure)

10th Dhul Hijjah 1441

Categories
Current Affairs articles

Forty Hadith on Plagues and Epidemics

Forty-Hadith-on-Plagues-and-EpedemicsDownload

To proceed,

The tradition in Muslim religious literature of gathering collections of forty Hadiths dates as far back as the first century after the Hijrah. Abdullah ibn Mubarak al-Marwazi (Allah have mercy on him) is thought to be the first to have gathered forty Hadith in a collection. Perhaps the most well-known collection is that of Imam an-Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him), which has been translated into English, and on which there are several commentaries.

The practice of gathering forty Hadiths springs from a Hadith, narrated through several Companions, which puts the spiritual rank of religious scholarship within easy reach of the ordinary believer: “Whoever memorises forty narrations for my nation in matters of this religion, Allah will raise him up a scholar and I shall be an intercessor and witness for him on the Day of Rising.”

Allah make us from them.

Ismail ibn Nazir Satia (one who is in dire need of Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and pleasure)

15 Shaban 1441