Revert to Islam. Slightly Awkward. Trying to keep you interested, insha'Allah.
Friday, November 19, 2010
HowDoIPray.com
Assalaamu 'alaikum! I found this GREAT SITE that teaches the basics of the Salah. The site is called HowDoIPray.com and this is the animation from the site!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sha'ban: The Month of Preparation
Assalaamu 'alaikum everybody.
So Ramadan is right around the corner. For some of my fellow reverts out there, this is your first Ramadan masha'Allah! Right now we are in the month of Sha'ban, and my advice to you is, make this month of Shaban your Month of Preparation. So often we make the mistake of waiting until Ramadan starts to start preparing for Ramadan. As we know from the ahadith, the Prophet Muhammad (saws) used to fast more during Shaban than in any other month, except for Ramadan itself. In fact, there were years in which he fasted the entire month of Shaban! So insha'Allah we should all try to do as much fasting as we can this month, and insha'Allah this will help us prepare mentally and physically for Ramadan.
Think back to past years. How many times did you sleep in and miss the suhoor? Come on, brothers and sisters, we need that suhoor to get us through the day, and these are gonna be some long Summer days. Make sure that you are eating a healthy suhoor as well, a light balanced meal with lots of water to stay hydrated and, my personal recommendation, a multivitamin if you don't already take one daily. That extra energy will help you make it to maghrib. And make sure you are not stuffing your face at night either! You know who you are. Eat small, otherwise you'll be burping through tarawih. Use this month to get your sleep cycle in order so you can actually get up for Fajr, the first prayer of the day, even earlier for Suhoor, the per-dawn meal, and insha'Allah also in the middle of the night to pray Qiyamul Layl.
The month of Ramadan is full of blessings and mercy from from Allah, so take advantage of it by preparing ahead of time. Don't wait until the last ten nights of Ramadan to think about what you want to be making du'a for. For those who are not aware, towards the end of Ramadan there is a night called Laylat ul Qadr, the Night of Power or the Night of Decree, that occurs on one of the last ten nights. Since we don't know which night it is, we should try to spend some time each night, especially the odd nights insha'Allah, involved in extra salaah, reading Qur'an, and making much du'a. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that this night is khairun min alfi shahr, better than a thousand months. That would be (exaggerated calculating) 83 years! That is definitely NOT a night you want to miss.
Also, during Ramadan, the shayatin, the devils, are chained up, so don't miss out on utilizing this unique time free of their influences. Ramadan is your opportunity to increase in the worship of Allah, to improve yourself and become a better person and a better Muslim bi idhnillah. Start planning now insha'Allah! Seriously, right now. Go get a piece of paper and a pen, or open up word pad or text edit on your computer, and start making a list, "My Goals for Ramadan" and start listing everything you want to accomplish.
Subhanallah there are just so many things I want to say but I wan't to keep this relatively short so insha'Allah I'm gonna direct you towards some very beneficial audio lectures and videos that will further help you prepare insha'Allah. Insha'Allah watch and listen to all of it. Go, right now. The note's over. What are you still doing here? Click one of the links already insha'Allah!
Check out this great lecture to help you get the best out of the Holy Month.
Towards an Outstanding Ramadan
http://islambase.info/inde
Another Great lecture to help you prepare for Ramadan
The Fasting and The Furious - Muhammad Al Shareef
http://islambase.info/inde
This lecture is specifically focused on how we can correct the way we eat. Definite must listen!
Eating Habits in Ramadan
http://islambase.info/inde
If you have EVER had trouble getting to bed at a reasonable hour, waking up for Fajr, waking up for Suhoor, etc, listen to this lecture insha'Allah!
In the Middle of the Night - Muhammad Al Shareef
http://islambase.info/inde
These are a bunch of khutbahs from the Islamic Center at NYU. If you haven't heard these khutbahs before, now is your chance to start insha'Allah!
Using Shaban - ASM Hussain
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Ramadan and You - Khalid Latif
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
The Verses of Fasting - ASM Hussain
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Maximizing Ramadan - Khalid Latif
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Reaping from Ramadan - Khalid Latif
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Heart Wheel Journal by Muhammad Al Shareef (VIDEO!)
http://www.youtube.com/use
Preparing for Ramadan. The Month Of Sha'ban
http://www.youtube.com/wat
So Ramadan is right around the corner. For some of my fellow reverts out there, this is your first Ramadan masha'Allah! Right now we are in the month of Sha'ban, and my advice to you is, make this month of Shaban your Month of Preparation. So often we make the mistake of waiting until Ramadan starts to start preparing for Ramadan. As we know from the ahadith, the Prophet Muhammad (saws) used to fast more during Shaban than in any other month, except for Ramadan itself. In fact, there were years in which he fasted the entire month of Shaban! So insha'Allah we should all try to do as much fasting as we can this month, and insha'Allah this will help us prepare mentally and physically for Ramadan.
Think back to past years. How many times did you sleep in and miss the suhoor? Come on, brothers and sisters, we need that suhoor to get us through the day, and these are gonna be some long Summer days. Make sure that you are eating a healthy suhoor as well, a light balanced meal with lots of water to stay hydrated and, my personal recommendation, a multivitamin if you don't already take one daily. That extra energy will help you make it to maghrib. And make sure you are not stuffing your face at night either! You know who you are. Eat small, otherwise you'll be burping through tarawih. Use this month to get your sleep cycle in order so you can actually get up for Fajr, the first prayer of the day, even earlier for Suhoor, the per-dawn meal, and insha'Allah also in the middle of the night to pray Qiyamul Layl.
The month of Ramadan is full of blessings and mercy from from Allah, so take advantage of it by preparing ahead of time. Don't wait until the last ten nights of Ramadan to think about what you want to be making du'a for. For those who are not aware, towards the end of Ramadan there is a night called Laylat ul Qadr, the Night of Power or the Night of Decree, that occurs on one of the last ten nights. Since we don't know which night it is, we should try to spend some time each night, especially the odd nights insha'Allah, involved in extra salaah, reading Qur'an, and making much du'a. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that this night is khairun min alfi shahr, better than a thousand months. That would be (exaggerated calculating) 83 years! That is definitely NOT a night you want to miss.
Also, during Ramadan, the shayatin, the devils, are chained up, so don't miss out on utilizing this unique time free of their influences. Ramadan is your opportunity to increase in the worship of Allah, to improve yourself and become a better person and a better Muslim bi idhnillah. Start planning now insha'Allah! Seriously, right now. Go get a piece of paper and a pen, or open up word pad or text edit on your computer, and start making a list, "My Goals for Ramadan" and start listing everything you want to accomplish.
Subhanallah there are just so many things I want to say but I wan't to keep this relatively short so insha'Allah I'm gonna direct you towards some very beneficial audio lectures and videos that will further help you prepare insha'Allah. Insha'Allah watch and listen to all of it. Go, right now. The note's over. What are you still doing here? Click one of the links already insha'Allah!
Check out this great lecture to help you get the best out of the Holy Month.
Towards an Outstanding Ramadan
http://islambase.info/inde
Another Great lecture to help you prepare for Ramadan
The Fasting and The Furious - Muhammad Al Shareef
http://islambase.info/inde
This lecture is specifically focused on how we can correct the way we eat. Definite must listen!
Eating Habits in Ramadan
http://islambase.info/inde
If you have EVER had trouble getting to bed at a reasonable hour, waking up for Fajr, waking up for Suhoor, etc, listen to this lecture insha'Allah!
In the Middle of the Night - Muhammad Al Shareef
http://islambase.info/inde
These are a bunch of khutbahs from the Islamic Center at NYU. If you haven't heard these khutbahs before, now is your chance to start insha'Allah!
Using Shaban - ASM Hussain
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Ramadan and You - Khalid Latif
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
The Verses of Fasting - ASM Hussain
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Maximizing Ramadan - Khalid Latif
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Reaping from Ramadan - Khalid Latif
http://icnyu.org/loudblog/
Heart Wheel Journal by Muhammad Al Shareef (VIDEO!)
http://www.youtube.com/use
Preparing for Ramadan. The Month Of Sha'ban
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Sunday, April 11, 2010
ISLAM ON STAGE!
Alhamdulillah that I was able to attend and speak at this wonderful event. It was called "Young and Muslim in America" and it was part of the annual Shuruq events at ICNYU. Masha'Allah there were so many incredible speakers at this event sharing stories about anything and everything. Some were happy, some were sad, all were amazing. Subhanallah, this program was one of the best events I've ever attended.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
How to Pray/ Learn the Qur'an
Assalaamu 'alaikum,
Alhamdulillah I have begun working on two new video series. The first is part of a larger series, Pillars of Islam. I already did a single video explanation of the Shahadah, and insha'Allah I am already planning out a series of a whole bunch of videos called Salah: How to Worship your Creator. Insha'Allah I want to cover every aspect of the prayer. One part of that is working with pronunciation and memorization of the Arabic. I have a method of writing out the English and Arabic that works for me very well, so insha'Allah I want to share it with everybody else. On top of that I insha'Allah want to do a series of videos on learning the Quran. in each video I would deal with one Surah, discuss the meaning and the tafsir, then I would teach the Surah and help the viewer to memorize it insha'Allah. I find there are two major difficulties with memorizing Qur'an or other Arabic for prayers. First of all, obviously, most people don't understand the meaning of the Arabic they are trying to memorize, which makes things much harder. Second, most people can't read Arabic script either, and so they have to use various transcriptions and transliterations into our Roman script. This presents many problems because there is a trade off that takes place. If you try to preserve the meanings of each word, to show each word by itself, or literally transliterate each letter, the result will be difficult to pronounce correctly. On the other hand, if you go overboard trying to make the Arabic really easy to pronounce, it doesn't even resemble words anymore, just a bunch of sounds, and for the person trying to learn, it doesn't connect with the meaning. So my solution to this is to have each verse in 4 parts: the first line has each word in Arabic broken up into individual boxes in a table, preserving the word in its natural form. The next line would have the corresponding English meaning (more or less) for each word in their own boxes. Then the next line would be the complete verse in Arabic, fully joined together for proper pronunciation, followed by the English translation of the meaning on the last line. This way, the person can recognize each Arabic word and relate it to what they are reciting, while still being able to retain the correct pronunciation, AND have a better grasp on the meaning, insha'Allah.
That was a lot of explaining. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about. Insha'Allah my plan is to pair this with audio in the videos, but to also have separate documents available here on the blog so people can have it separate from the videos themselves. Tell me what you think insha'Allah!
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