Honoring a Pioneer: Salimah Omar

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "He is not of us who does not have mercy on young children, nor honor the elderly"  (Al-Tirmidhi)

I recently learned about this sister from Bro. Mubaashir, and I decided to forward an email to assist in her cause.  She is now in hospice care and her family needs support for after she returns to Allah. I've added a few pictures and a youtube video about Sis. Salimah.  May Allah reward her for her good and grant her a place in paradise. 

“Your Lord has commanded that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to your parents. If one or both of them reach old age with you, do not say to them a word of disrespect, or scold them, but say a generous word to them. And act humbly to them in mercy, and say, ‘My Lord, have mercy on them, since they cared for me when I was small.” (17: 23-24)

Dear Muslims, Network Members, and Friends,

I have several things to report to you as of this evening:

HEALTH

Allahu Akbar! Family, friends, and medical personnel are doing all they can to provide a loving, warm, comfortable rest for Salimah. She is truly loved by many.

INSURANCE

Allahu Akbar! The family found 3 small insurance policies totaling $2,287.00. This cuts the amount of money we are raising almost in half.

YOUR DONATIONS

Allahu Akbar! We have received 18 donations totaling $875.00. This gives us a total of $3,162.00 towards the $5,100.00, leaving us with a balance of $1,938.00.

WHO IS SALIMAH OMAR?

For those wondering, "Who is Salimah Omar?" If you don't know her, you will read more about her in the Muslim Journal. Suffice it to say for now that in our Islamic community she is a great woman to all who know her, including Imam W. Deen Mohammed, who named her the first Muslim Woman of the Year from our community. She is a great example of a Muslimah, a great musician, champion of culture and fierce advocate for the arts and education. She is a mother to us all. A member of our community since the 1950s or 60s, I believe. She was 86 years old on Monday.

Let me give you one example of the kind of person she is. If you saw the pictures I sent out yesterday, she was on that bed with her eyes closed selling her book of poetry called Islamizing Our Culture (copyright 2008). Her daughter would tell visitors who wanted to buy the book to go over to her and ask the price. As they approached her to speak, with her eyes closed and head tilted to the side (you would think that she was sleep), she would pronounce the price.

WHY ARE WE REQUESTING DONATIONS NOW?

For those wondering, "Why we are collecting donations now while Salimah is still with us?" We understand that the final determination rests in the hands of Allah and believers are making du'aa for Salimah daily and nightly. We pray that Allah chooses to defy all indications and restore our sister to health. However, Muslims understand that none of us know the hour of our departure from this life and thus, we are encouraged to prepare ourselves ahead of time so that we, our families, and friends are not overly burdened by our departure.

Hence, we purchase our burial plots before they are needed. We purchase life insurance to cover our departure arrangements. We write wills to instruct those we leave behind how to dispose of our property and possessions. We do these things while we are living, not because we are second-guessing Allah, but because HE enjoins us and it is our custom to be prepared for life and death. So we plan ahead.

Our beloved sister Salimah has managed her affairs very well. Our assistance effort is a humble attempt to help augment Salimah's preparation and ease the burden on her children.

May Allah bless our good and forgive our mistakes.

A DUA FROM SALIMAH'S BOOK

Oh Allah

I thank you for knowing me

Better than I know myself

And knowing myself better

Than others know me

Make me I pray thee

Better than they suppose

And forgive me

What they do not know 

                                Salimah Omar

I will keep you updated...

Peace Be Upon You,

Mubaashir Uqdah

mubaashir.uqdah@verizon.net

You can donate HERE.

A time for this and a time for that...

It was narrated that Hanzalah al-Usaydi said:

Abu Bakr met me and said: How are you, O Hanzalah? I said: Hanzalah has become a hypocrite. He said: Subhaan Allaah! What are you saying? I said: When we are with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) he reminds us of the Fire and the Garden until it is as if we are seeing them with our own eyes, but when we depart from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), we attend to our wives and children and businesses, and we forget a great deal. Abu Bakr said: By Allaah, we experience something similar. Abu Bakr and I went and entered upon the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and I said: Hanzalah has become a hypocrite, O Messenger of Allaah. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Why is that?” I said: O Messenger of Allaah, when we are with you, you remind us of the Fire and the Garden until it is as if we are seeing them with our own eyes, but when we depart from you, we attend to our wives and children and businesses, and we forget a great deal. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if you continued as you are when you are with me, and continued to remember (Paradise and Hell), the angels would shake hands with you in your homes and on the streets. But, O Hanzalah, there is a time for this and a time for that” (he said it) three times.

Narrated by Muslim (2750).

THE GROWTH OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

THE GROWTH OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
Lecture by Imam W. Deen Mohammed

"Let us move on now to the concept of prophet. We have now a quick picture of Allah, that is a quick, real brief, idea of the unity of allah, His oneness, His uniqueness, His independence. Now, let us come to the prophet, or concept of the prophet, and see the precious light of Al-Islam. On the concept of Prophet Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad is not an ordinary Prophet.  Prophet Muhammad is the major Prophet, extraordinary Prophet, and thelast of the prophets, last of the Major Prophets. The Major Prophets are those prophets who bare a direct relationship to our individual growth as a human being, as a conscious creature. There are Minor Prophets who dealt with social problems, political problems, different problems--those are Minor Prophets. They don't bear directly their meaning. Their role does not bear directly on the natural evolution of me as a person. How do we know this? Allah says in the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad has taught it--that in you are seven grades and above you are seven corresponding grades. The seven in us refers to the natural steps of growth that takes place in the conscience of the individual to reach the fullness of growth that Allah has ordained for us, in creating us, our natural forms, our nature-biological nature, our spiritual nature, our political nature.

Do you know that you have a political nature. My political nature, all of it has already been clocked and designed by Allah who created it. In creating it, he designed it and clocked it. And He designed and clocked it, so that, it moves up along certain planes of elevation. Each plane of elevation gets broader. The first plane is more narrower and it not as broad as the second one. The second one is broader than the first one. The third one is broader the second one. And the fourth is broader the third one. The fifth one is broader than the fourth. The sixth is broader than the fifth. The seventh is broader than the sixth. So, if you see this going up, it looks like a cone so to speak. It gets bigger as we go up into the grades.

Now, where does Prophet Muhammad stand? Where is he placed? Since Allah says, correspondedly there are seven above you. The word in Arabic clearly tells us that the seven above us are not different than the seven in us. It clearly tells that the seven above us are the same as the seven in us. Oh, is he saying that the seven prophets, the Major Prohets are in us? Yes! But they are asleep in us. The average one of us cannot reach the potential that the great Prophets achieved. Because we have not earned the blessings that they earned. But if we had been upright and G-d chose us for the blessings, there is already the resources in her for G-d to bring out. The resources of the Major Prophets are in me, in every human being. And G-d has to bring it out. He brought it out with each major Prophet. He brought a plane or elevation of that until it reached seven. And we know, according to hadith, if the hadith is correct and we must agree that it is correct whether we know the hadith is correct or not because the ummah is the ummah after the millah of Ibrahim--the Prophet Hanifah--peace be on him.

...Dear believers, sometimes I don't feel like talking to you this way because most of you are doubters. And it is not justice to give precious knowledge to doubters. It is not justice. That is not right--you see.  But if you understood this, you would understand how your self, as a person, is a type of the great Prophet. And G-d has not sent us leaders that we can't follow. Because the leader that he has sent represent what is inherent in us, or inborn, or innate in us.  So, Prophet represents the consistency, the logic that connects them all--also it is in us."IWDM (THE GROWTH OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS)

Very Powerful Story posted on www.ummah1.com

There were only 15 minutes left before Salat-ul Isha.




He quickly made Wudhu and performed Salat-ul Maghrib.



While making Tasbih, he again remembered his grandmother and was embarrassed by how he had prayed.



His grandmother prayed with such tranquillity and peace.



He began making Dua and went down to make Sajdah and stayed like that for a while.



He had been at work all day and was tired, so tired.



He awoke abruptly to the sound of noise and shouting.



He was sweating profusely. He looked around. It was very crowded.



Every direction he looked in was filled with people.



Some stood frozen looking around, some were running left and right and some were on their knees with their heads in their hands just waiting.



Pure fear and apprehension filled him as he realized where he was.



His heart was about to burst.It was the Day of Judgment.



When he was alive, he had heard many things about the questioning on the Day of Judgment, but that seemed so long ago.



Could this be something his mind made up?



No, the wait and the fear were so great that he could not have imagined this.



The interrogation was still going on.



He began moving frantically from people to people to ask if his name had been called.



No one could answer him.



All of a sudden his name was called and the crowd split into two and made a passageway for him.



Two angels grabbed his arms and led him forward.



He walked with unknowing eyes through the crowd.



The angels brought him to the center and left him there.



His head was bent down and his whole life was passing in front of his eyes like a movie.



He opened his eyes but saw only another world.



The people were all helping others.



He saw his father running from one lecture to the other, spending his wealth in the way of Islam.



His mother invited guests to their house and one table was being set while the other was being cleared.



He pleaded his case, 'I too was always on this path.



I helped others.



I spread the word of Allah.



I performed my Salah.



I fasted in the month of Ramadhan.



Whatever Allah ordered us to do, I did.



Whatever he ordered us not to do, I did not.'



He began to cry and think about how much he loved Allah.



He knew that whatever he had done in life would be less than what Allah deserved and his only protector was Allah He was sweating like never before and was shaking all over.



His eyes were fixed on the scale, waiting for the final decision.



At last, the decision was made.



The two angels with sheets of paper in their hands, turned to the crowd.



His legs felt like they were going to collapse.



He closed his eyes as they began to read the names of those people who were to enter Jahannam.



His name was read first.



He fell on his knees and yelled that this couldn't be, 'How could I go to Jahannam?



I served others all my life, I spread the word of Allah to others'.



His eyes had become blurry and he was shaking with sweat.



The two angels took him by the arms.



As his feet dragged, they went through the crowd and advanced toward the blazing flames of Jahannam.



He was yelling and wondered if there was any person who was going to help him.



He was yelling of all the good deeds he had done, how he had helped his father, his fasts, prayers, the Noble Qur'an that he read, he was asking if none of them would help him.



The Jahannam angels continued to drag him.



They had gotten closer to the Hellfire.



He looked back and these were his last pleas.



Had not Rasulullah [SAW] said, 'How clean would a person be who bathes in a river five times a day, so

too does the Salah performed five times cleanse someone of their sins'?



He began yelling, 'My prayers? My prayers? My prayers.?'



The two angels did not stop, and they came to the edge of the abyss of Jahannam.



The flames of the fire were burning his face.



He looked back one last time, but his eyes were dry of hope and he had nothing left in him.



One of the angels pushed him in.



He found himself in the air and falling towards the flames.



He had just fallen five or six feet when a hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.



He lifted his head and saw an old man with a long white beard.



He wiped some dust off himself and asked him, 'Who are you?'



The old man replied, 'I am your prayers'.



'Why are you so late! I was almost in the Fire!



You rescued me at the last minute before I fell in'.



The old man smiled and shook his head, 'You always performed me at the last minute, did you forget?'



At that instant, he blinked and lifted his head from Sajdah.



He was in a sweat.



He listened to the voices coming from outside.



He heard the Adhan for Salat-ul Isha.



He got up quickly and went to perform Wudhu.



Pass this on to your friends and family...Maybe, you can help someone open their eyes.



And who knows?



Maybe, this is a good deed that can help you during the day of

judgement.



(INSHA-ALLAH)



Thanks to David "Ahmad "Cork UMMAH 1 Member

Question your own creation...

Why you should recite Ayat-ul-Kursi every night

Why you should recite Ayat-ul-Kursi every night

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Weekly Wisdom - 10/16

467. Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Look at those who are inferior to you and do not look at those who are superior to you, for this will keep you from belittling Allah's Favor to you.''
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

This is the wording in Sahih Muslim. The narration in Al-Bukhari is: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "When one of you looks at someone who is superior to him in property and appearance, he should look at someone who is inferior to him".

Commentary: By looking at the worldly goods and riches of others, a person gradually becomes unthankful for the blessings which Allah has bestowed on him. The best remedy for this "disease" is that which has been prescribed by Messenger of Allah (PBUH) in this Hadith. The remedy is that one should look at the people who have lesser worldly goods and riches than one's own. If a person has a small house of his own which can protect him from the harshness of weather, then he has no need to see enviously towards sky-high buildings and palatial houses of others. He should look at the homeless people who spend their nights on footpaths and live in huts which in rain leak like sieve and are swept away by a wave of flood water, etc. But from a religious angle, one should see towards those who are more fearful of Allah and observe their Salat meticulously so that one becomes more fond of obedience of Allah, has a greater fear of Him and devotes more time to prayer and devotion. This dispensation is also given in other Ahadith.