MASH'ALLAAH! REPRESENT, ukhtee!
Bismillaahi was salaatu was salaamu 'ala Rasoolillaah ~
Mash'Allaah, mash'Allaah, mash'Allaah!!!
Allaah (subhanahu wa t'ala) guided me, such a lost soul and disbelieving mushrik, to this Truth. I could never express how grateful I am for His Mercy in opening my eyes to this blessed Deen. It has been 7 years now and I cannot even begin to express how sad I feel about the current state of the Muslims today. That is, misguided and uneducated, blind-following, stuck-in-their-own-cultural-traditions... this is our Ummah today ~ the Ummah of our beloved Prophet (sallalahu 'alayhi wasalam). Everything that this sister was saying is EXACTLY what I feel and EXACTLY what I find myself saying to friends and family who judge me from what they see in the majority of Muslims today. So we continue to protect the honour of our brothers and sisters and find excuses for eachother's faults.
How much tears the Prophet (sallalahu 'alayhi wasalam) shed in his lifetime fearing the trials of the grave and the punishments of the Fire, for HIS own community, the Sahabah (may Allaah be pleased with them), whom He tell us in the following authentic hadeeth "The best of people is my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them (i.e. the first three generations of Muslims)." (Bukhari, Muslim)
How much more would he (sallalahu 'alayhi wasalam) weep for the Ummah of today?
And Allaah (azawajjal) says: "For each (such person) there are (Angels) in succession, before and behind him: They guard him by command of Allaah. Verily, Allaah will never change the condition of a people until they change it themselves (with their own souls). But when (once) Allaah Wills a people's punishment, there can be no turning it back, nor will they find anyone to protect themselves, besides Him." (Surah Ar Ra'd 13:11)
In another authentic hadeeth (Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi) he (sallalahu 'alayhi wasalam) says: "Adhere very closely to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me; bite on to it with your molar teeth, and beware of the newly invented matters (ie. to the Deen)."
But is there anything left of the Sunnah present in the Muslims of today? Except for the fact that they may call themselves "Sunni"?
And if you're "practicing" what TRULY is the Sunnah, as prescribed by the Last Messenger of God (on whom be peace), you are faced with the label of someone who is "old-fashioned", "an immigrant who has not left his/her country's traditions", "an extremist", "a Wahhaabi"... and the list goes on.
One of his (sallalahu 'alayhi wasalam) prophecies for the future was: “You [Muslims] will [in future times] follow the ways of those [disbelieving] nations who preceded you very closely; even if they enter into the hole of a lizard you would follow them into it.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
So MASH'ALLAAH to the sisters who carry the eemaan in their hearts to cover up for the sake of Allaah. So many Muslim couples we see nowadays, where you admire the strength of the sisters to adorn their faith among those who can be so ignorant, cruel and judgmental. Yet (just an example) the husband she walks beside blends in with everyone else. Unconscious of his own awrah, or hayah.
How hurt the Prophet (sallalahu 'alayhi wasalam) would be to see the deterioration in treatment of our sisters in various countries from his time. Taking cultural ideas and chauvanistic rulings from uneducated "imaams" or scholars OVER the beautiful, uplifting and loving examples of the Prophet (on whom be peace). A man sent to us from our Creator to give us guidelines on how to achieve Jannah. A man who advised, "The best among you (the Believers) are those best to their wives." (Muslim)
MASH'ALLAAH to this sister for speaking out about all these current issues.
"Whosoever Allaah guides, He expands his breast to [contain] Islaam. And whosoever He misguides, He makes his breast tight and constricted, as though he were climbing into the sky. Thus does Allaah place defilement upon those who do not believe. And this is the Straight Path of your Lord. We have detailed the verses for a people who remember..." (Surah al-An'am 6:125)
And I would like to end this commentary with one of my favourite Hadeeth, another prophecy told by Mohammed (on whom be peace)...
"Islaam started as strange (with few converts then grew big and popular) and it will return, in decline, as strange (with very few sincere followers) as it started. So give glad tidings to those strange few faithful." (Muslim)
May Allaah (ar-Rahmaanir Raheem) bless us with His Continued Mercy and Guidance and aid us in rectifying our affairs... Aaameen. Aameen. Aameen.
Wa'alaikum salaam wa Rahmatullaahi wa Baraakatuh.
Umm Na'eema