Muslims

[UmmSqueakster 54]

A good lecture on Ahul Bayt by Ustad Yahya Rhodes.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

If I'm the only one who ever posts in this thread, we're going to need to rename it

[UmmSqueakster 54]

via al Miskeenah, I've stumbled upon a website of beautiful photos of Mecca and Medina. SubhanAllah, so beautiful

[Aymsgirl 0]

Those are really pretty pics! I like the top one. Thanks for sharing.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Woo, someone else posted I love looking at pictures of Mecca and Medina and dream of the day when I can visit myself. I think the police have been less strict about enforcing the no cameras in the haraam and whatnot, so inshaAllah when I go, I hope I can take a billion and one pictures (especially of all the street kitties ).

I started going through some of the Qur'ans I've aquired recently and haven't had a chance to read. I picked up this version from half.com very cheap, and it's really a simple and easy translation for a newbie. It has a nice biography of the Prophet (saws) in the front, a page or 2 in front of each surah with some explanation of it's content and history, and then a clear, simple translation with a few notes to clarify things.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

[Kenza 1]

lol. May Allah SWT reward you sister for being the only poster!

[nunyab 0]

mashallah this thread keeps going!!! Subhanallah Um Squeakster may you be rewarded for your work

[UmmSqueakster 54]

More

I just found out about this spiffy lookin organization in Houston Texas. I think we have peeps from there? Wish we had stuff like this in my neck of the woods. Maybe I'll ad Houston to the list of potential places to move?

http://risala.org/

And, I got an ipod touch recently, and have been looking at islam related apps. Anyone have anything they'd like to recommend? Here's what I have and what I think of them thus far:

*alQuran - a free Qur’an program with a wide variety of translations and reciters. Only downside (for sunnis at least) is that the reference section is clearly shia is persuasion (subjects include muta, taqiyya, and the immate). But, I’m a big fan, because it has close to a dozen english translations you can download (with a wifi connection), including my recent favorite Ali Unal.

*iQuran Pro - had to pay for this one, but it’s worth it. The recitation is synced with the reading. It will scroll down as it’s playing, so if your arabic isn’t up to snuff (ehm, like mine), you can follow the arabic recitation. It also allows you to download (again with a wifi connection) various reciters, including an arabic/english recitation

*iPray Pro - another pay app. Pretty format, but I can’t yet figure out how to get the adhan to play at the prayer time if I don’t have push/wifi enabled all the time

*iSubha - not that I don’t already have 2 sets of dhikr beads in my purse at all times, now I can record my dhikr on my ipod. Lets you record and track how much you do.

*Divine Names - an app that helps you to memorize the 99 names of Allah (swt), set to one of my favorite nasheeds. You can play through the whole 99 names, listening and reading, or set it to go through a specific set, repeating the name 1 or several times. Spiffy spiffy spiffy.

*iDua - a mini dua book right on your ipod. Read the dua in english, arabic and transliteration. The downside here is that you have to download each recitation of the dua individually. It would be much better if you could download all the sound files in one fell swoop. Also, AbuS says there were some errors in the arabic. inshaAllah we’ll go through it and send them an email with things that they can fix.

*QDu’as - an app to memorize 41 quranic duas.

*QWords - a program to memorize 569 quranic words, that make up 80% of the Qur’an. inshaAllah it will help me to move towards my goal of being able to read (and understand) the Qur’an in arabic.

Edited January 4, 2010 by UmmSqueakster

[Muh and me 18]

More

I just found out about this spiffy lookin organization in Houston Texas. I think we have peeps from there? Wish we had stuff like this in my neck of the woods. Maybe I'll ad Houston to the list of potential places to move?

http://risala.org/

And, I got an ipod touch recently, and have been looking at islam related apps. Anyone have anything they'd like to recommend? Here's what I have and what I think of them thus far:

*alQuran - a free Qur’an program with a wide variety of translations and reciters. Only downside (for sunnis at least) is that the reference section is clearly shia is persuasion (subjects include muta, taqiyya, and the immate). But, I’m a big fan, because it has close to a dozen english translations you can download (with a wifi connection), including my recent favorite Ali Unal.

*iQuran Pro - had to pay for this one, but it’s worth it. The recitation is synced with the reading. It will scroll down as it’s playing, so if your arabic isn’t up to snuff (ehm, like mine), you can follow the arabic recitation. It also allows you to download (again with a wifi connection) various reciters, including an arabic/english recitation

*iPray Pro - another pay app. Pretty format, but I can’t yet figure out how to get the adhan to play at the prayer time if I don’t have push/wifi enabled all the time

*iSubha - not that I don’t already have 2 sets of dhikr beads in my purse at all times, now I can record my dhikr on my ipod. Lets you record and track how much you do.

*Divine Names - an app that helps you to memorize the 99 names of Allah (swt), set to one of my favorite nasheeds. You can play through the whole 99 names, listening and reading, or set it to go through a specific set, repeating the name 1 or several times. Spiffy spiffy spiffy.

*iDua - a mini dua book right on your ipod. Read the dua in english, arabic and transliteration. The downside here is that you have to download each recitation of the dua individually. It would be much better if you could download all the sound files in one fell swoop. Also, AbuS says there were some errors in the arabic. inshaAllah we’ll go through it and send them an email with things that they can fix.

*QDu’as - an app to memorize 41 quranic duas.

*QWords - a program to memorize 569 quranic words, that make up 80% of the Qur’an. inshaAllah it will help me to move towards my goal of being able to read (and understand) the Qur’an in arabic.

YOOOOO WHOOOOOOOO I'm loving it! thanks!!

[Aymsgirl 0]

More

I just found out about this spiffy lookin organization in Houston Texas. I think we have peeps from there? Wish we had stuff like this in my neck of the woods. Maybe I'll ad Houston to the list of potential places to move?

http://risala.org/

And, I got an ipod touch recently, and have been looking at islam related apps. Anyone have anything they'd like to recommend? Here's what I have and what I think of them thus far:

*alQuran - a free Qur’an program with a wide variety of translations and reciters. Only downside (for sunnis at least) is that the reference section is clearly shia is persuasion (subjects include muta, taqiyya, and the immate). But, I’m a big fan, because it has close to a dozen english translations you can download (with a wifi connection), including my recent favorite Ali Unal.

*iQuran Pro - had to pay for this one, but it’s worth it. The recitation is synced with the reading. It will scroll down as it’s playing, so if your arabic isn’t up to snuff (ehm, like mine), you can follow the arabic recitation. It also allows you to download (again with a wifi connection) various reciters, including an arabic/english recitation

*iPray Pro - another pay app. Pretty format, but I can’t yet figure out how to get the adhan to play at the prayer time if I don’t have push/wifi enabled all the time

*iSubha - not that I don’t already have 2 sets of dhikr beads in my purse at all times, now I can record my dhikr on my ipod. Lets you record and track how much you do.

*Divine Names - an app that helps you to memorize the 99 names of Allah (swt), set to one of my favorite nasheeds. You can play through the whole 99 names, listening and reading, or set it to go through a specific set, repeating the name 1 or several times. Spiffy spiffy spiffy.

*iDua - a mini dua book right on your ipod. Read the dua in english, arabic and transliteration. The downside here is that you have to download each recitation of the dua individually. It would be much better if you could download all the sound files in one fell swoop. Also, AbuS says there were some errors in the arabic. inshaAllah we’ll go through it and send them an email with things that they can fix.

*QDu’as - an app to memorize 41 quranic duas.

*QWords - a program to memorize 569 quranic words, that make up 80% of the Qur’an. inshaAllah it will help me to move towards my goal of being able to read (and understand) the Qur’an in arabic.

I'm dizzy! You are on a roll girl.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I may have mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. If anyone is interested in tasawwuf (aka sufism), Sh. Husain Abdul Sattar's 6 part talk on the Fundamentals of Tasawwuf is excellent. And if you're married to an anti-sufi (cof cof AbuS), he may find these talks convincing, as Sh. Husain (and the Naqshbandi Mujaddidi in general) are very big on tasawwuf as a science of islam bound by the sharia, and not a universalist new age thing.

[sara..... 371]

for the Spanish speaking and people that they know that would understand the Spanish more than English there is also a site from Huston Texas http://www.casaislamica.com/

[MrsAmera 41]

I may have mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. If anyone is interested in tasawwuf (aka sufism), Sh. Husain Abdul Sattar's 6 part talk on the Fundamentals of Tasawwuf is excellent. And if you're married to an anti-sufi (cof cof AbuS), he may find these talks convincing, as Sh. Husain (and the Naqshbandi Mujaddidi in general) are very big on tasawwuf as a science of islam bound by the sharia, and not a universalist new age thing.

Have you seen this book? The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways for the Modern Dervish. I recently got it and am doing a study of it with a friend in Morocco. It's exactly what I was looking for - much more of a devotional type of book. I think you would like it.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I think there are three ways people approach Sufism. One is that it’s a universalistic mystical experience that transcends islam, where islam is merely an incidental, and one does not need to be muslim to practice it.

Another is to view it as a sect of islam, where they’re a sufi, more so than any other affiliation, be it madhab, aqeedah or whatever. In this, there is varying degrees of actually adhering to sharia.

The third is to view Sufism as tazkiyah and ihsan, as a science of the religion of islam. Just as one would learn tajweed with a teacher to recite the quran, or the basics of fiqh in order to the learn the halal and haram of the outward state, they would also seek out a teacher to teach them the prophetic practice of purification of the inward state, ie tasawwuf. In this view, one’s model that they strive to emulate and who’s state they want to achieve is that of the Prophet Muhammad (saws), so that everything he did, from the way he dressed, to how he ate, to how he worshipped, to what he avoided (ie everything in the Qur’an and sunnah) is of the utmost importance to learn and to follow, and that that is the best way to reach Allah (swt).

After browsing the books website, I think it falls more into the first definition of Sufism. If this is how one wants to view Sufism, then they’re more than welcome to it. But for me, I’m definitely in the third camp. I have a few books from universalist Sufis, and take the good from them and leave what contradicts islam. I have a lot of texts from the third groups as well.

But, as I’ve struggled to delve into them and grasp what they’re saying, I’ve come to realize that learning Sufism this way is an abogration. Imam al Ghazali (ra) was an increadiby intelligent, learned man, a teacher who had books galore. But when he wanted to learn tasawwuf, he left his job, his life, everything, and traveled to the teachers of the science, to sit with them and learn the knowledge that had been passed down from teacher to student, stretching back to the angel Gabriel to the Prophet (saws). Even the great treatise on tasawwuf often weren’t penned by their authors – they were taught verbally to their students, who then transcribed them so they could refer to them later. Taking the teacher out of the equation opens us up to misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

I guess what I’m trying to say in all of this is that I think that tasawwuf (as well as everything in islam) is best learned from a teacher, who will refer back to the great masters of the science, and the penultimate sufi, the Prophet Muhammad (saws). It's only when I found a teacher that I could begin to make real progress. But then also, not every teacher is the right one. There are plenty of sufi "shaykhs" out there who aren't worth their turbans.

I think Imam Malik (ra) put it all quite succinctly when he said:

He who practices tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law

corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without

practicing tasawwuf corrupts himself.

Only he who combines the two proves true.