A Return to Excellence

Indeed all praise is for Allaah. We praise Him, seek His help and we seek His forgiveness and we seek refuge in Allaah from the evils of our souls and our evil actions. Whosoever Allaah guides then none can misguide and whosoever Allaah misguides then none can guide aright. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah alone, having no partners and I bear witness that Muhammad sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam is His servant and Messenger. To proceed:

Knowing the Straight Path

‘Abdullaah ibn Mas’ood radiallaahu 'anhu said: The Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam drew a line for us and said: "This is Allaah’s Straight Path." Then he drew lines to its right and left and then said: "These are other paths. Upon every one of them there is a devil calling towards it." Then he recited:[1]

"Indeed this is My Straight Path, so follow it. And do not follow other paths, they will separate you from His Path."[2]"[3]

Therefore, that which is necessary for the Muslims - both individuals and groups - in order to prepare for the mighty task and to achieve the lofty goal, is to truly know the straight path, it’s people, their ‘aqeedah (belief) and their manhaj (methodology), knowing also the innovations and evils which cause one to separate from this way. The wisdom in learning about the evil is taken from the hadeeth of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamaan radiallaahu 'anhu where he said: "The people used to ask the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam about the good, but I used to ask him about the evil for fear that it would overtake me..."[4] And may Allaah have mercy upon the one who said in poetic wisdom:
I learnt what was evil, not for itself, but to avoid it. He who does not know evil from good, falls into it.
Abul-‘Aaliyah (d.90H) - rahimahullaah - said: "Learn Islaam. Then when you have learnt Islaam, do not turn away from it to the right nor the left. But be upon the Straight Path and upon the Sunnah of your Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam and that which his companions are upon ... and beware of these innovations because they cause enmity and hatred amongst you. But stick to the original state of affairs which was there before they divided." So ‘Aasim said: I related this to al-Hasan al-Basree so he said: "He has given you sincere advice and has told you the truth."[5]

The Original State of Affairs

[It is hoped that this leaflet will be a small contribution towards introducing to the noble brothers and sisters the importance of the]...original state of affairs, which has as its pure and sweet spring, the Qur’aan and the Sunnah, built upon the understanding of the Salafus-Saalih - the pious predecessors of this Ummah - the first three generations of Muslims whose excellence has been testified to by the Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam in his saying: "The most excellent of mankind is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them."[6]

This principle - the obligation of adhering to the Qur’aan and the Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salafus-Saalih - being the cornerstone principle of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah, as Abu Haneefah (d.150H) - rahimahullaah - said: "Stick to the narrations and the way of the Salaf and beware of newly invented matters, for all of it is innovation."[7] Also Imaam al-Awzaa’ee (d.157H) - rahimahullaah - said: "Patiently restrict yourself to the Sunnah and pause where the people paused, say what they said and avoid what they avoided. Take to the path of your Salafus-Saalih, for indeed, what was sufficient for them, is sufficient for you."[8] [So, it is hoped that this leaflet will encourage the reader, to seek and follow] ...the path taken by our Salafus-Saalih, differentiating between their way and the way of those who opposed them with whims, desires, and innovated principles, who seek to sever the people’s connection with the Salaf of this Ummah and its scholars - those whose understanding has been praised and whose path it has been made obligatory to follow.

Softening the Hearts

[As well as the importance of seeking knowledge of]...the correct Islaamic ‘aqeedah and manhaj, and [knowledge]...pertaining to fiqh, tafseer, hadeeth, seerah and siyaasatush-shar’iyyah (concern for the affairs of this Ummah);...[the reader should also seek that which is]...pertaining to aadaab and akhlaaq (manners and etiquettes), tazkiyah (purification of the soul) and the study of the lives of the Salafus-Saaliheen. This, by Allaah’s permission, will further enable the hearts to cultivate submissiveness and humility in the worship and obedience to Allaah - the Most High.

Ibn al-Jawzee (d.597H) - rahimahullaah - said: "I feel that occupying oneself with jurisprudence and acquiring the narrations is hardly enough to correct the heart, unless he adds to that the study of raqaa’iq (heart-melting narrations) and the study of the lives of the Salafus-Saaliheen. Since they attained what is desirous from the narrations and took from the outer actions that which is ordered and required. And I do not inform you of this except after personal trial and experience. Since I have found that the majority of the narrators and the students of Hadeeth are concerned chiefly with obtaining the briefest isnaad (chain of narration) and increase in the number of narrations. And the majority of the jurisprudents are concerned with dialects and how to win arguments. So how can the hearts be softened with these things? Previously a group of the Salaf would visit a pious servant to see his conduct and manners, not to take from his knowledge. This was because the fruits of his knowledge were his manners and conduct, so understand this. Thus, along with the study of fiqh and Hadeeth, study the lives of the Salaf and those who abstained with regards to the world, so that this may be a cause of softness in your hearts."[9]

The Means and the Goal

Yoonus ibn ‘Ubayd (d.139H) - rahimahullaah - said: "With good manners you understand the knowledge. With the knowledge your actions are corrected. With actions wisdom is obtained. With wisdom you understand zuhd (abstinence) and are granted its benefits. With zuhd comes abandoning the world. With abandoning the world comes desire for the hereafter. With desire for the hereafter the pleasure of Allaah - the Mighty and Majestic - is obtained."

Abu Qilaabah (d.104H) - rahimahullaah - said: "If Allaah gives you knowledge, then give Him worship; and do not let your desire be just to narrate it to the people."[10]

Abu ‘Abdullaah ar-Roodhabaaree said: "He who goes out for knowledge, desiring knowledge, it does not benefit him. He who goes out for knowledge seeking the action by the knowledge, even little knowledge benefits him."[11]

Maalik ibn Deenaar - rahimahullaah - said: "When a servant seeks the knowledge for practice, his knowledge humbles him. When he seeks it for other than that, it increases him in immorality and pride by it."[12]

Al-Haafidh Ibn Rajab (d.795H) - rahimahullaah - said: "So the beneficial knowledge from amongst all the types of knowledge is to take possession of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah and to understand their meanings, and to limit oneself to that which is reported from the Companions, the Taabi’een and their Successors - with regards to the meaning of the Qur’aan and Hadeeth, and what is reported from them as regard to the halaal (lawful) and haraam (prohibited), and zuhd, raqaa’iq, the accounts (of previous nations and Prophets), and other than that. Striving firstly, to distinguish what is authentic and what is weak; and then secondly, striving to understand and comprehend it. And there is enough in that for the intelligent one, and enough to occupy one who busies himself with beneficial knowledge. And he who stops at that and makes his intention purely for the Face of Allaah and seeks His help - then Allaah will help him, guide him and grant him success, satisfaction, understanding and inspiration. Then he will take the benefits of this knowledge - which are found through it alone - and that is fear of Allaah, as Allaah - the Exalted and Majestic - says:

"Indeed, it is only those who have knowledge, amongst His slaves, that fear Allaah."[13]"[14]

The Reminder

Thus - O noble reader - if this brief introduction is something already familiar to you, then we hope that it will serve as a reminder for you - if Allaah wills - since it will not be hidden from any Muslim, whatever level of knowledge they are at, that reminding of the truth has a very lofty station in our great and tolerant religion, as Allaah - the most High - says:

"So remind! For indeed reminding benefits the Believers."[15]

For this reminding comes this magazine [Al-Ibaanah] ... which we present to our Muslim brothers and sisters - praying that together we may adorn ourselves with the correct knowledge bequeathed to us by or Salafus-Saalih, learning their ‘aqeedah, so that hearts may embrace it; learning their manhaj, so that people may follow it and learning also their manners and behaviour, so that souls may be cultivated upon it, seeking to convey this to others with the wisdom, patience and forbearance that this pure and sublime message demands. So herein lies the excellence of the one who reaches it.

Al-Hasan al-Basree (d.110H) - rahimahullaah - said: "If there was a man who reached the first Salaf, then he (this man) was up today, he would not recognise anything of Islaam." The narrator said: And al-Hasan put his hand on his cheek and said: "Except for this prayer." Then he said: "Then how is it - by Allaah - for one who lives in this bad time, not having reached the Salafus-Saalih. So he sees an innovator calling to his innovation, and a worldly person calling to the world. But Allaah protects him from that and makes his heart lean towards those Salfus-Saalih. Asking about their way, seeking their narrations and following their path. Allaah will recompense him with a great reward. So be like that if Allaah wills."[16]

Finally, we ask Allaah to make this magazine of benefit to the noble reader and to the one who seeks it. Indeed Allaah is the One who hears and He is the One who responds.

Footnotes:

1. All Qur’aanic quotations are translations of the meaning of the Qur’aan.
2. Sooratul-An’aam (6):153.
3. Hasan: Related by Ahmad (1/435) and an-Nasaa’ee (7/49). It was authenticated by Shaykh al-Albaanee in his checking to Kitaab us-Sunnaah (no.16) of Ibn Abee ‘Aasim.
4. Related by al-Bukhaaree (6/615) and Muslim (12/235).
5. Related by Ibn Battah in al-Ibaanah (no.136).
6. Related by al-Bukhaaree (no.2652) and Muslim (no.2533), from Ibn Mas’ood radiallaahu 'anhu.
7. Related by as-Suyootee in Sawnul-Mantaq wal-Kalaam (p.32).
8. Related by Imaam al-Aajurree in ash-Sharee’ah (p.58) and also al-Bayhaqee in Madhkal ilas-Sunan (no.233).
9. Sayid ul-Khaatir (p.216).
10. Related by al-Khatteeb in Iqtidaa’ul-‘Ilmil-‘Aml (no.37).
11. Iqtidaa’ul-‘Ilmil-‘Aml (no.29).
12. Iqtidaa’ul-‘Ilmil-‘Aml (no.31).
13. Soorah Faatir (35):28.
14. Fadlu ‘Ilmus-Salaf ‘alal-Khalaf (p.48) of al-Haafidh Ibn Rajab.
15. Soorah adh-Dhaariyaat (51):55.
16. Related by Ibn Waddaah in Al-Bida’ wan-Nahee ‘Anhaa (p.74).

This leaflet is an adaptation of the Introduction to Al-Ibaanah Magazine, Vol.1 No.1 April 1995.

Converts in Kuwait - From skirts to abayas

KUWAIT: Like all devout Muslim women here, the figure in the veil and black cloak gave off an air of mystery and other worldliness. As she disappeared inside a building, it was easy to imagine her background: Raised in her faith, shrouded in an abaya since the first sign of puberty. Actually, the woman rushing so purposefully inside the high walls of the, Women's Committee of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) was an American raised as a Protestant, who converted to Islam in her twenties. She and other converted Muslim women meet weekly at various organisations around town to discuss issues of their new faith. They have a lot of company --- thousands of Muslims living in Kuwait are former Christians, and many of them embrace practices that seem antithetical to the morals of those brought up in Europe or the United States. The most obvious custom is wearing the veil.

"Modesty, mostly" is the reason Hazel, a British woman who converted to Islam in 1981, gave for wearing it. "When you're covered, you're treating each other as human beings without being distracted." Another convert. Iman, points out covering is ordered in the Quran, and it is not nearly as restrictive as some people believe. "The translation for hijab (the term used for covering the hair, arms, and legs) is "shield", and it is shielding the woman from harm and corruption. It doesn't restrict the freedom of the woman to move about, to carry out all her normal duties," she said.
It is stipulated in the Quran, rather ambiguously, that women should cover from "head to toe." But the Hadith or Sunna, a collection of sayings of the Holy Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, and a description of his life, says women should be covered except for their hands and faces. Nowhere does it say women should wear black --- this is a custom of the region rather than an Islamic requirement.

For Linda, a Canadian woman who converted to Islam in her 30s, wearing hijab was something she had to ease into. "Living in the Middle East has helped a lot," said Linda who met and married an Egyptian man after she converted. She thinks she still might be dressing in the Western tradition if she and her husband had not spent a year in Saudi Arabia shortly after they married, by the end of which time she was wearing hijab. Linda recalls gradually becoming more and more uncomfortable with some of her clothes. A turning point came when she dressed in a shirtwaist dress one evening to meet friends. As she and her husband waited for them in the lobby of her apartment building, she realised how ill at ease she felt in her outfit. After checking with her husband, she ran back upstairs and changed into something looser and longer. After that incident, she bought her first abaya.

Covering her hair was also something she took step by step. "A friend gave me two light scarves, chiffon, blue' and beige," she said. She wore them from time to time, sometimes over her head, until she got used to the idea. Then she started wearing the traditional opaque scarf, tied at the throat and covering the neck. The decision to wear hijab was taken with her husband, after much consultation. Today, Linda would like to cover more by wearing a coat, which buttons up the front and never flies open to reveal the clothing underneath, as abayas sometimes do. But her husband does not want her to, so for the time being, she continues to wear the abaya. "He wants me to look nice," she explained. "He thinks that just because a person is wearing hijab doesn't mean they can't look nice." True to his word, Linda always does look well put together under her abaya, and takes obvious care with her appearance. Soon, Linda's adolescent daughter will have to start wearing hijab, a transition both are somewhat apprehensive about. "She's nervous about it, because not too many kids (in her English school) do," Linda explained. "It's going to be a little bit difficult. I wish that it would have come naturally, earlier."

Another regular visitor to the RIHS is Badriya, an Egyptian chemist in her thirties who lived in Canada for many years. Although she was raised in Islam, she started wearing hijab in 1990, two years after moving back to Egypt. "I saw my younger sisters in hijab, and I started to ask myself why I didn't wear hijab," she said. She tried on a sister's scarves, and decided to start covering. But there was no going step-by-step for her, graduating from flimsy wraps to the large cloth that covers hair and neck.

"One day, I said, okay, I'm going to wear hijab. The second day, I went to my work, covered." But as with Linda, her decision was taken jointly with her engineer husband, whom she married in 1982. "My husband - I won't say forced, but he encouraged me," she explained. "He said, you're working with men, you should cover." Now, Badriya regrets not covering sooner, and is contemplating covering more. "I hope, if it's right Allah will let me cover my face," she said.

Iman is a Muslim convert who does cover her face. Originally from Oregon in the United States, she has gone well beyond hijab to wear a mask called bashiya, which hides the entire face except the eyes. These peep through slits show not at all, because she often covers the bashiya with a semi-transparent black veil known as niqab. She also wears gloves, so she does not have to show an inch of skin when she is out on the street. Despite her propriety, she says she does not advocate that everyone cover the face. "There's no compulsion --- it's up to the individual," she explained. "It's my choice and I stand behind it." Nevertheless, she is thinking about easing up a little. "I'm thinking of going to navy blue," she announced breezily. "It's not Islamically required to wear black." She is also contemplating finding an alternative for her abaya, which has been seeming cumbersome of late. "I move a lot --- I'm always stopping and having to adjust it," she said.

Like Linda, she eased into Islamic modesty. Although she converted in her mid-twenties, she did not become devout at first. She gradually started wearing hijab in Seattle, where she met women in an Arabic class who were practising Islam fully. To the office, she wore long-sleeved blouses and long skirts, which were fine with the dress code of the fabric company where she worked. Sometimes, she put on a hat and gloves. "I dressed very elegant, as they put it," she said. One day, a friend from Saudi Arabia called her and asked her to read; a certain verse from the Quran. "It was the verse dealing with hijab," Iman said. "It was like somebody had taken a flashlight or a spotlight and shined it on this verse of the Quran." After that she started to take hijab much more seriously, but still her understanding of it was flawed. For example, her clothes would be modest in style, but too flashy in colour. Bright red was a favourite, which defeats the purpose of deflecting attention. She also did not really grasp the concept of an abaya, but tried to wear one while praying. "I wrapped this gigantic bedsheet around me because I'd seen it on TV", she said, laughing.

Listening to her, it is at first hard to see how anyone with such a seeming vague idea of her religion could embrace it so whole-heartedly. But for many converts, the peace they found with Islam came long before a deep understanding. Talking to enough of them reveals a pattern: Until they became Muslim, they were often depressed and adrift, feeling a large spiritual void. Many of them experimented with several religions before turning to Islam. In many ways, Linda is a good illustration. "I was not very happy," Linda said. "I felt lost, I was drifting. I didn't feel like I belonged in my society." Her first move was to go back to her church, the United Church of Canada. "But the United Church . . . it's a very boring church," she said. "There was no vitality, there was no life." At the same time, she was learning about Islam, where she found a belief system and rules she liked. "The answers were there, it brought (faith) to life," she said. In Christianity, "it's very difficult to find them." Eventually, she converted.

For her family. this seemed strange, but they don't understand Islam, Linda said. One recurring problem is her mother's failure to grasp that the incentive for wearing hijab is spiritual, and does not depend on location. When Linda returns to Canada for visits, her mother invariably tries to get her to take off her scarves, saying she doesn't need to wear them in the West.

Hazel faced the same difficulty back in England, with her mother assuming she wore the veil only to make her Kuwaiti husband happy. "Go on, take it off, I won't tell him," her mother would urge her. As an Englishwoman embracing a very unEnglish practice, she thinks she makes some people uncomfortable, she says. Others are more snide than embarrassed. "Isn't the, a bit hot?" Is a favourite question about her clothing. Laughing, she said her favourite reply was, "Not as hot as hellfire . . . it's a bit cheeky, I know, but they deserve it."

Iman faced far more serious problems. She went through a divorce in her mid-twenties, and lost her two young sons to her ex-husband. A large part of his custody case hinged on her conversion to Islam, she said. Other members of her family shun her. At her mother's funeral in 1980, her devout Assembly of God uncle told her the family considered her as good as dead for converting from Christianity. "When we bury her, we bury you," she said he told her. Shortly after that, she moved to the United Arab Emirates to study at the Sheikh Sayeed Center for New Muslims, and has not left the Gulf area since. Staying here, where she directs a women's group at the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, enables her to practice her religion more fully, she said.

Perhaps most impressive is her obvious commitment and conviction. "I chose the right religion," she said. "I've stayed with it." Badriya and Linda are assumed names to protect the privacy of the people interviewed.

From the Kuwait Times, page 1, Tuesday, January 30, 1996 / Ramadan 10, 1416.