By the Stars they are Guided - Maryam Amirebrahimi

The Mosque, Women & Prophetic Advice - Habib Ali Al-Jifri

Moderation in All Things

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once asked a companion: 

"(Is it true) that you fast all day and stand in prayer all night?" The companion replied that the report was indeed true. 

The Prophet then said: "Do not do that! Observe the fast sometimes and also leave (it) at other times; stand up for prayer at night and also sleep at night. Your body has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you and your wife has a right over you." 

Sahih Al-Bukhari

Jesus Will Return

Jesus ('Isa)  (Upon whom be peace), just as all the other prophets, is a chosen slave of Allah whom Allah assigned to summon people to the true path. However, there are some attributes of Jesus  distinguishing him from other prophets, the most important one being that he was raised up to Allah and that he will come back to earth again. 

Contrary to what most people believe, Jesus  was not crucified and killed nor did he die for any other reason. The Quran tells us that they did not kill him and they did not crucify him and that Allah raised him up to Him. In none of the verses, is there an actual reference to his murder or that he was killed, apart from the verse (ayah) which denies that it happened. Furthermore, the Quran acquaints us with some events from the life of Jesus  which have not yet happened. Thus, his second coming to earth is a prerequisite for these events to happen. There is no doubt that the Quran's revelations will surely happen. 

Despite this, however, many people assume that Jesus  passed away some thousands of years ago and that thus it is unlikely that he will return. This is a misconception arising from lack of knowledge about the Quran and the Sunnah. A careful scrutiny of the Quran will render an accurate understanding of the verses about Jesus  possible. 

Our Prophet  also told us that Jesus  will be sent back to earth and related that in that time, which is called "the end of time", there may be a period in which the earth will attain unprecedented peace, justice and welfare. The "end times" refers to the period of time close to the end of the world. According to Islam, in this time, there will be the terrible trials of the Dajjal (Anti-Christ), many earthquakes and the emergence of Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog) after which the ways of the Quran will prevail and people will extensively adhere to the values it introduces.

In their dreams, people always long for better. A more beautiful landscape, a more delicious food, a more socially promising society .. The later period of "the end of time" expresses a period which entirely embraces all these favorable concepts, "the better", "the more beautiful" etc. It is a blessed period people have been longing for ages. It is the glorious time of welfare and abundance, of justice and peace. It is the time when all these blessings will supersede injustice, immorality, conflict and wars. It is surely the blessed time when Islamic morals will penetrate to every aspect of life.

THE EXPECTED SAVIOR 

In every age, Allah answered the call of His slaves who desperately needed His help. This also holds true for this age and for the future. As it was the case with the earlier ages, in our day, too, it is expected that Allah will save people from the injustice of the system of disbelief and present them with the beauties of Islam.

It is especially expected that the Islamic world will find a way out of the corruption it experiences today and the sincere believers will communicate the values of Islam to the whole world. Surely, as in every age, today people hope that a savior will appear. This savior, who will take mankind from the "darkness to the light," is the religion of Islam. The people leading the way to live by these superior values will defeat all the systems that deny Allah, and they will render corrupted ideologies invalid.

In brief, Allah will help each people as He did in previous ages. Allah promises this to His slaves who sincerely turn to Him and have deep fear of Him.

THE RETURN OF JESUS  TO EARTH

An examination of the verses about Jesus  in the Quran indicates that Jesus neither died nor was killed, but he was raised to the presence of Allah. In Surat an-Nisa, it is related that Jesus  was not killed but raised to the presence of Allah. The related verse follows:

And (on account of) their saying, "We killed the Messiah, 'Isa son of Maryam, Messenger of Allah." They did not kill him and they did not crucify him but it was made to seem so to them. Those who argue about him are in doubt about it. They have no real knowledge of it, just conjecture. But they certainly did not kill him. Allah raised him up to Himself. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat an-Nisa: 157-158)

From what has been related so far, it is clear that Jesus  did not die but was raised to the presence of Allah. However, there is one more point that is underlined by the Quran: Jesus  will come back to earth. That Jesus  will come back to earth towards the end of time is related in another verse 43:61. [detailed references are available in the book related to other verses: 3:45-48; 3:55; 4:157-159].

Starting from Surat az-Zukhruf: 57, there is reference to Jesus :

When an example is made of the son of Maryam ('Isa) your people laugh uproariously. They retort, "Who is better then, our gods or him?" They only say this to you for argument's sake. They are indeed a disputatious people.

He is only a slave on whom We bestowed Our blessing and whom We made an example for the tribe of Israel. (Surat az-Zukhruf: 43-59)

If We wished, We could appoint angels in exchange for you to succeed you on the earth. (Surat az-Zukhruf: 43-60) 

Just after these verses, Allah declares that Jesus  is a sign of the Day of Judgment.

He is a Sign of the Hour. Have no doubt about it. But follow me. This is a straight path. (Surat az-Zukhruf: 43:61)

 

Ibn Juzayy says that the first meaning of this verse is that Jesus  is a sign or a precondition of the Last Hour. We can say that this verse is a clear indication that Jesus  will come back to earth at the end times. That is because Jesus  lived six centuries before the revelation of the Quran. Consequently, we cannot interpret his first coming as a sign of the Day of Judgment. What this verse actually indicates is that Jesus  will come back to earth towards the end of time, that is to say, during the last period of time before the Day of Judgment and this will be a sign for the Day of Judgment. Allah surely knows the best.

The Arabic of the verse "He is a Sign of the Hour" is "Innahu la 'ilmun li's-sa'atiÉ" Some people interpret the pronoun "hu" (he) in this verse as the Quran. However, the preceding verses explicitly indicate that Jesus  is mentioned in the verse: "He is only a slave on whom We bestowed Our blessing and whom We made an example for the tribe of Israel" [1]

In Sahih Muslim, it is also stated that the Hadith in which it is said that the Prophet Jesus  will descend amongst people at the end of time have reached the degree of being mutawatir, i.e. narrated by so many people in each generation that it is not possible to have any doubt of their authenticity, and that it is counted as one of the major signs of the Day of Rising. (Sahih Muslim, 2/58)

Hudhayfah ibn Usayd al-Ghifari said, "The Messenger of Allah (saas) came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion). He said: 'What are you discussing?' We said: 'We are discussing the Last Hour.' Thereupon he said: 'It will not come until you see ten signs before it' - and (in this connection) he made mention of the smoke, the Dajjal, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of 'Isa the son of Maryam, Yajuj and Majuj, and landslides in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia at the end of which fire will burn forth from the Yemen, and drive people to the place of their assembly." (Sahih Muslim)

JESUS  IN THE RISALE-I NUR COLLECTION

In the Risale-I Nur collection, a Quranic commentary written by Said Nursi, also known as Bediuzzaman (the Wonder of the Age),one of the greatest Islamic scholars of the 20th century, there is extensive reference to the end of time and the second coming of Jesus .

It is a fact that today Muslim communities embrace different thoughts. However, a great number of Muslims from various cultures agree that Bediuzzaman was one of the greatest scholars of the 13th century (Muslim Calendar). That is why the detailed descriptions of the end of time by Bediuzzaman are of great importance for all Muslims.

In his explanations regarding the end of time, Bediuzzaman states that two philosophical movements, described as serious endeavors to establish disbelief, would cause disorder on earth. The first one will be a covert threat to Islam while the second class of movements will openly reject the existence of Allah. The second current is materialist and naturalist understandings that affirm that matter is an absolute being, which has existed since eternity and which will exist until eternity. The two movements further hold that living beings accidentally came into existence from non-living matter. (Naturalism is known as the philosophical dimension of Darwin's theory of evolution.)

This definition surely provides the basis of all ideologies denying the existence of Allah. Since early times, materialists opposed all religions revealed by Allah, fought against their supporters, oppressed people, waged wars and opened the way to every sort of degeneration in society.

Jesus , too, in his second coming to earth, will struggle against these materialist and naturalist movements and, by the will of Allah, will gain victory over them. Bediuzzaman draws attention in his books to the materialist movement: 

The Second Current: A tyrannical current born of Naturalist and Materialist philosophy will gradually become strong and spread at the end of time by means of materialist philosophy, reaching such a degree that it denies God. [2] 

Bediuzzaman heralds that Jesus  will come to earth at such a period when disbelief will dominate the earth. As stated in the following words of Bediuzzaman, in his second coming to earth, Jesus  will rule with the Quran and eliminate all bigotry in Christianity. Uniting against disbelief, Christians who have embraced Islam and Muslims will prevail over the disbelieving ideologies by the guidance of the Quran. The related section in the Risale-i Nur follows:

At that point when the current appears to be very strong, the religion of true Christianity, which comprises the collective personality of Jesus , will emerge. That is, it will descend from the skies of Divine Mercy. Present Christianity will be purified in the face of that reality; it will cast off superstition and distortion, and unite with the truths of Islam. Christianity will in effect be transformed into a sort of Islam. Following the Quran, the collective personality of Christianity will be in the rank of follower, and Islam, in that of leader. True religion will become a mighty force as a result of its joining it. Although defeated before the atheistic current while separate, Christianity and Islam will have the capability to defeat and rout it as a result of their union. Then the person of Jesus , who is present with his human body in the world of the heavens, will come to lead the current of true religion, as, relying on the promise of One Powerful Over All Things, the Bringer of Sure News has said. Since he has told of it, it is true, and since the One Powerful Over All Things has promised it, He will certainly bring it about. [3]

In all his descriptions of the second coming, Bediuzzaman indicates that Jesus  will remove all the systems of disbelievers in that period. He further adds that he will receive great support from Muslims. Jesus  will act as a Muslim and pray behind the imam of the Muslims, and work together with the right-acting people from the Islamic world, and will assume leadership in spreading the Quran and its teachings, and remove the ongoing violence of the system of the disbelievers:

It will be the truly pious followers of Jesus  who will kill the gigantic collective personality of materialism and irreligion which the Dajjal will form - for the Dajjal will be killed by Jesus'  sword - and destroy his ideas and disbelief, which are atheistic. Those truly pious Christians will blend the essence of true Christianity with the essence of Islam and rout the Dajjal with their combined strength, in effect killing him. The narration: "Jesus  will come and will perform the obligatory prayers behind the Mahdi and follow him," alludes to this union, and to the sovereignty of the Quran and its being followed. [4]

CONCLUSION

In the history of mankind, that Jesus  will be sent back to earth for a second time by Allah is surely a divine favor to all humanity. Only a minority of people will enjoy this occasion. He will then be a blessed "savior" sent to all mankind. Indeed, in times when violence and disorder were increasingly experienced in the world, human beings begged a "helper" from Allah. Accordingly, Allah responded to their plea:

What reason could you have for not fighting in the Way of Allah - for those men, women and children who are oppressed and say, "Our Lord, take us out of this city whose inhabitants are wrongdoers! Give us a protector from You! Give us a helper from You!"? (Surat an-Nisa: 75) 

As mentioned earlier, the "savior" in our time is the penetration of the Quranic values to our souls and society. Upon his second coming, Jesus  will wholeheartedly adhere to these revealed values favored by Allah and strive purely to spread them to people all over the world.

The knowledge of unseen and future events is something only known to Allah. Yet, it is certain that those who expect this blessed period and this person must at that time undertake important obligations. Just as Jesus  will protect and guide all believers, the believers will also have to give wholehearted support to Jesus  and help him in the services he renders for the sake of Allah. This time, in other words, during his second coming, believers should never make him ask again, "Who will be my helpers to Allah?"(Surah Al 'Imran: 52) Otherwise, one will feel deep regret and torment both in this world and hereafter. Allah clearly threatens those who are ungrateful:

Then we sent our Messengers one after another, at intervals. Each time its Messenger came to a community they called him a liar so We made them follow one another too and turned them into myths and legends. Away with the people who have no faith! (Surat al-Muminun: 44) 

On the other hand, those who follow him, who provide him sincere support and adopt the revealed values brought by him may well hope to earn the good pleasure, mercy and eternal paradise of Allah. This is a definite promise and good tidings given by Allah: 

Allah has sent down a reminder to you, a Messenger reciting Allah's Clear Signs to you to bring those who have faith and do right actions out of the darkness into the Light. Whoever has faith in Allah and acts rightly, We will admit him into Gardens with rivers flowing under them remaining in them timelessly, for ever and ever. Allah has provided for him excellently! (Surat at-Talaq: 11) 

We are grateful to Allah, the Almighty, Who will honor such of His slaves as He wills on such a great occasion as the second coming of Jesus  and grant them this important opportunity to gain merit for their lives in the hereafter. 

And peace be upon the Messengers. And praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds! (Surat as-Saffat: 181-182)  

Notes:

*. : Upon whom be peace

1. Prof. Suleyman Ates, Yuce Kur'an'ın Cagdas Tefsiri (The Contemporary Tafsir of the Holy Quran, vol. 6, p. 4281)

2. Said-i Nursi, The Letters, The Fifteenth Letter, p.53

3. Said-i Nursi, The Letters, The Fifteenth Letter, p.54

4. Said-i Nursi, The Rays, The Fifth Ray, p. 493

Excerpts taken from Harun Yahya's book, titled "Jesus will Return". First English edition published in February 2001.  To order this book, click here.

Source

Brothers, think before you speak!

FATIMA BINT QAYS

Fatima bint Qays was a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ  from Quraish and was among the early emigrants to Madinah. She was a jurist and a teacher and has narrated hadith from the Prophet ﷺ. She is most famous for two hadith, one about the Anti-Christ and another one that created a lot of controversy because it goes against the Quran.

Her first husband was killed in the first jihad. As soon as her waiting period was over, she started going to the mosque whenever she heard the athan. She narrated this story. “I was in the row of women. When the Messenger of God ﷺ  finished his prayer, he sat on the pulpit and he was smiling. Then he said, ‘Let everyone remain in his place’. Then he asked, ‘Do you know why I have gathered you?’ They said, ‘God and his Messenger ﷺ  know best.’ He said, ‘By God, I have not gathered you for anything you desire or for anything that you fear. Rather, I have gathered you because Tamim Al Dari, who was a Christian, came, pledged allegiance and embraced Islam, and told me a story which confirms what I have been telling you about Anti-Christ.’” Fatima then narrated the whole story of Tamim and she is well known for this hadith about the Anti-Christ.

Fatima is also famous for another hadith that caused a lot of controversy. According to the hadith, she says that a divorced woman has no right of accommodation and living expenses from her husband during iddah, the waiting period before the end of which she cannot remarry. She says that when her husband divorced her, he sent his agent with some barley to provide for her expenses. She didn’t like that and went to the Prophetﷺ  and told him about her situation. The Prophet ﷺ  replied, “You expenses are not an obligation on him.”

There are so many jurists among the Companions and scholars who have refused this hadith, even though it was technically sahih. Jurists like Omar ibn Al Khattab, Abdullah ibn Masud, Zaid ibn Thabit, Aishah (RA), and many others believe this hadith goes against the Quran. Even later scholars such as Ibrahim Al Nakhai, Sufyan Al Thawri, Abu Hanifah and his students, and other scholars in Kufa are siding with the scholarly opinion that it contradicts the Quran.

The verse in the Quran that they are referring to is:

{Oh Prophet! When you [men] divorce women, divorce them for their iddah, and count their iddah [accurately] and be wary of God, your Lord. Do not force them from their homes, nor should they leave [of their own accord], except in the case of blatant indecency (fahishah). And those are the bounds of God [..] You [the one divorcing his wife] do not know-it may be that God will later bring about some new affair [i.e. some reconciliation or eventual re-marriage]. […] Lodge them [divorced wives] where you dwell, according to your means, and do not be hurtful to them so you constrain them [forcing them to leave]. And if they are pregnant, then spend on them until they deliver their burdens. Then if they breast-fed the children for you, give them their due payment, and consult each the normal way (bil maruf). {Quran –Surat Al Talaq-65. 1,6}

The scholars maintain, according to the Quran, that a divorced woman has the right of accommodation and expenses, whether the divorce is final or provisional, and whether she is pregnant or not. Umar ibn Al Khattab said, “We are not to leave the Book of our Lord and Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ  for the word of a woman when we do not know for certain whether she preserved the matter fully or not.”

However, despite Umar’s strong objection to the hadith, he did not get in the way of her narrating it or other hadith in her teachings. There was a deep respect for the knowledgeable women of the time and their authority and no one was prevented from transmitting knowledge and understanding of the religion.

Aishah (RA) also critized Fatima for narrating this hadith and said that the ruling of the Prophet’s ﷺ  answer to her was based on some danger to Fatima for staying at her in-laws house. Other scholars over the years have said that maybe her hadith referred to women divorced finally and not provisionally. Other scholars said that maybe the Quranic verse meant the right of accommodation and Fatima’s hadith meant the women had no right of maintenance. Allahu A’lam (Allah knows best).

Nevertheless, Fatima was still able to teach and continued to narrate this hadith. Because of the senior rank her knowledge gave her, she was able to override some court decisions. Fatima bint Qays was an extremely respected teacher and used to travel as far as Iraq to spread knowledge about Islam.

Nadwī, Muḥammad Akram Al-. Al-Muḥaddithāt: The Women Scholars in Islam. Oxford [etc.: Interface Publications, 2007. Print.

 Source

The "Ugliest" Sahabi? - Omar Suleiman - Quran Weekly

Showing appreciation of your spouse

Showing appreciation of your spouse in front of people in a way thats appropriate is sunnah

Amr ibn al-As: “The Prophet deputed me to read the Army of Dhat-as-Salasil. I came to him and said, "Who is the most beloved person to you?" He said, " 'Aisha." I asked, "Among the men?" He said, "Her father." I said, "Who then?" He said, "Then 'Umar bin Al-Khattab." He then named other men” (Bukhari)

Owais Al Qarni (rta)

This story is not about a woman, but a story about a man who cared for his mother and the value that Islam gives to mothers. It is one of my favorite stories. Owais was the only man who was mentioned by name by the Prophet ﷺ without him having met him. Even Mohammed al Fatih, who was mentioned by the Prophet ﷺ, was not mentioned by name, just by his victory. What did Owais do that was so great? He took care of his mother. This is the story of Owais.

…………………………………….

One day, Omar ibn Khattab, Abu Bakr, Ali and other companions were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ at the mosque when the Prophet ﷺ said to them, “Tomorrow, a man will enter from this door to pray among you and he will be from the people of Paradise.”

Abu Huraira relates that the next day he hurried to Fajr prayer at the Mosque and lined up in the first row in hopes that he would be the man that the Prophet ﷺ was referring to the day before. There were many other Companions standing alongside him who also had the same idea. The Prophet ﷺ conducted Fajr prayer and sat down. The Companions were eager to know who this man of Paradise was, but it didn’t seem the Prophet ﷺ was going to mention it. So they sat and waited for a while and some of them had to go, but others still waited. These included Abu Huraira, Abu Bakr, Ali, and Umar.

Just then walked in a man, who was so poor his clothes were dirty and torn. The Prophet ﷺ immediately stood up and smiled from ear to ear and welcomed the man. The man asked the Prophet ﷺ to pray for him. The Prophet ﷺ raised his hands in duaa and said, “Oh Allah please grant this man a position in the highest levels of Paradise, Al Ferdous, with me.” So then when the man left, Abu Huraira asked the Prophet ﷺ,”Was that him?!” “Yes,” replied the Prophet ﷺ.

“But oh Messenger of Allah, he is nothing more than a poor slave, how can that be him?” asked Abu Huraira. “Oh Abu Huraira,” said the Prophet ﷺ. “What can I do for him if his fate in this world is to be poor? His position on the Day of Judgment is that of a king. Abu Huraira, the ones that have the most value to Allah are those that are pure, starving, whose faces are dusty, who are not known on this Earth, but known in the skies. If they want to get married, no one would marry them. And if they get sick, the do not pass on the sickness to anyone (they are alone), and if they attend something their presence is not felt, and if they leave, no one notices, and when they die, no one attends their funeral. These people however, are not forgotten by Allah and they are held with so much value.”

“Oh Messenger of Allah, show me one of them,” said Abu Huraira.

“I will tell you about Owais Al Qarni,” replied the Prophet ﷺ. The Companions looked at each other, each trying to recall if they know a man named Owais. They didn’t know that he was talking about a man that they will meet years after the Prophet ﷺ has passed away.

“He is a man of medium height, head held high despite being poor with very dark skin. I can see him putting his right arm on his left arm and weeping as he reads Quran. He is wearing a cloak of poor wool,” said the Prophet ﷺ, smiling as if he can see him as Angel Gabriel is describing him. “On his left shoulder, there is a white mark the size of a dirham that is the effect of an illness. He is unknown among the people but known in the skies. His biggest sign is the mother he deeply cares for. When he makes duaa, it is granted. He will come among the people on the Day of Judgment and as they are entering Paradise, he will be stopped. When he asks why, Allah will tell him he can bring whomever he wants into Paradise with him, as much as 200,000 people (the amount of two large tribes).”

“Ali and Umar, if you are ever to find this man, ask him to make duaa for you and ask Allah for your forgiveness,” said the Prophet ﷺ.

.            .            .            .            .            .            .            .            .            .            .

Elsewhere in Yemen, a young boy is herding his sheep, the sun beating down on his shoulders where a white mark stands alone on his dark skin. He is frustrated from being poor and having to struggle and take care of his mother. His father died when he was a young child, leaving him the man of the house. When the boy was seventeen, his mother lost her vision, and his responsibilities toward her increased as he now had to help her move around.

One night, he was carrying a candle and helping his mother move around the house when the candlelight went out and they were left in darkness. He could not see a thing. Then his mother, who was used to finding her way in the darkness, started leading him.  This turn of events affected him deeply and he started to ponder on the weight of light and darkness.

The next day, the seventeen-year-old Owais bumped into a Muslim man who was coming to Yemen to spread Islam. He stopped the man and asked him to tell him something from the Quran that his Prophet ﷺ has said. So the man recites a verse from Surat Al Nur:

{…And he for whom Allah has not appointed light, for him there is no light} (Quran 24:40)

This really hit home for Owais as he remembered what had happened the night before with his mother. “Tell me more about what your Prophet ﷺ says,” said Owais.

So the man, noticing that Owais was poor, chose this Hadith. “What am I to this world and what is this world to me? The example of me and this world is that of a man who walks in the heat of the desert and sits under the shade of a tree for an hour, then walks away and leaves it.”

Owais upon hearing this Hadith, immediately said his shahadah and became a Muslim at the age of 17. Then came the question, will he migrate to see the Prophet ﷺ? As much as Owais wanted to, he couldn’t and wouldn’t leave his mother. Some people suggested that he let some neighbors take care of her while he was gone but he said that he was the one who should take care of her and turned down the opportunity to see the Prophet ﷺ. This sacrifice for his mother and the way Owais had devoted himself to his mother his whole life was the reason that he was mentioned by the Prophet ﷺ. Also because of his deep faith and his lack of attachment to the material things in this world.

So when Ali bin Abu Talib left Yemen with a group of new Muslims to go back to Madinah, it was without the boy he bumped into on his way there. He had no idea that it the Owais that the Prophet ﷺ had mentioned and the boy didn’t know it was Ali bin Abu Talib.

3 years later, the Prophet ﷺ passed away and years after that Abu Bakr also passed away. When Umar ibn AlKhattab became Khalifa, he would go around all the people during Hajj and call out, “OWAIS, OWAIS, Is there anyone here named Owais?” He would go to the group that came from Yemen and ask them if a man named Owais is among them. But no one had heard of this man. Umar realized it was just as the Prophet ﷺ described to him, that he was a man who was unknown among the people.

Year after year, Umar would go around at Hajj and call out and ask for Owais. One year during Hajj, he stood at Mount Arafat and asked all the people making Hajj to stand up. Then he told everyone to sit down except those from Yemen. From that group, he told them all to sit down except those from Murad and from that group, he told them all to sit down except those from Qarn. One man was left standing. “Are you a Qarni?” asked Umar ibn Al Khattab. The man replied in the affirmative. “Do you know Owais?” “Yes, he is my nephew. But what would you want with him. He is but a poor, forgotten man,” replied the Yemeni man.

Umar started to weep. “This man is not just a poor, forgotten man. He is a man who will choose 200,000 people to come with him into heaven. Is he with you?”

“No, he is not,” replied the man.

“Is his mother living,” asked Umar.

“Yes,” replied the man.

“I know he will not ever leave her, as this is what the Prophet ﷺ said,” replied Umar.

Umar searched for Owais for ten years. A year before the death of Umar, Owais’s mother passed away. That year, Umar stood up at Mount Arafat again and said to the people of Yemen, “Is Owais al Qarni among you?” A Yemeni man said, “He is that sheppard standing over there.” Umar became so excited and went to look for Ali. “Ali! Ali! We found him!” he called out.

Umar and Ali approached Owais and asked him, “Are you Owais al Qarni?”

“Yes,” replied a surprised Owais. “Show me your shoulder,” replied Umar. Owais showed them his shoulder and they were able to see the mark that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned. “Is your mother with you?” asked Umar. Owais replied that his mother had passed away. “Ah, it is just as the Prophet ﷺ said it would be then,” said Umar.

Owais actually did not know these men so he asked them who they were. “I am Umar ibn AlKhattab, the Khalifa, and this is Ali ibn Abu Talib, the man who came to Yemen to spread Islam,” said Umar.

“Yes! I remember him! But, how do you know me?” asked Owais.

So Umar told Owais the whole story about how the Prophet ﷺ had talked about him years ago and how Angel Gabriel had described him. They said how his signs were the mark on his shoulder, his care for his mother, and his lack of attachment to this world. He said how Prophet ﷺ told them that he would take 200,000 people with him into Paradise. They told him how they had been looking for him for years.

Umar and Ali then asked Owais to make duaa for them and ask forgiveness for him. “You are now my friend in this life and the next,” Umar said to Owais. However, Owais was not interested in the life of fame and ease that would come with being Umar’s friend, especially when people find out what the Prophet ﷺ had said about him. He kindly refused, and asked to be left as he is.

Owais said he was going to go to Kufa. “Would you like me to write to the leader of Kufa to await your arrival and look after you?” asked Umar.

“No thank you. I would like to go unknown as I came,” replied Owais.

“Ok then at least let me give you some money to help you out,” said Umar in an effort to do at least something for Owais. “No thank you, my wool coat has still not worn out and neither have my shoes. I have four dirhams that I have still not used. When I run out, I will figure out how to get more. I am content this way,” replied Owais.

“Please stay with me,” said Umar. “Thank you Umar. But what I have is good for me and what you have is good for you and the Muslims,” said Owais.

Owais left Mecca. He participated in the battle at Azerbaijan and died during the battle. His death came about 2 years after the death of Umar ibn AlKhattab. Owais was about 35 years old.

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*This is one of my favorite stories. There are two things to learn here. One is the importance of taking care of your mother and that the reward for it is more than you can imagine. Once a companion asked the Prophet ﷺ whom he should befriend. The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Your mother.” The Companion then asked, “Who after her?” “Your mother,” replied the Prophet ﷺ. Then Companion then asked, “Then who should I befriend?” “Your mother,” replied the Prophet ﷺ. “Then whom after that?” asked the Companion. “Your father,” replied the Prophet ﷺ. So much importance is placed on the mother-not just taking care of her and feeding her and clothing her. Befriend her. Your parents should be your friends. Bir Al Waleedain, your obligation to your parents, is not just a material obligation like putting a roof over their heads and making a phone call every week. Its being their friend and having them be a part of your life, especially in their old age. People say that Islam oppresses women, but how can anyone say that when they see a person like Owais, who will take 200,000 with him to heaven, just for sacrificing his friendship with the Prophet ﷺ to take care of his mother and for devoting his whole life to her. If you were in the same position, what would you choose?

Which leads me to the second lesson. Sacrifice. When you sacrifice something for Allah or leave something for the sake of Allah, Allah will reward you with something unbelievably greater than it. Owais didn’t get to be a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ because he chose to care for his mother, so Owais was given the honor of being his Companion in Paradise! This also goes for you in even the smallest things.

*Imagine how Owais must have felt to hear what the Prophet ﷺ had said about him!

*This story is also a reminder that our wealth, clothes and status are not an indication to how we are viewed by Allah. The story in the beginning of the man in the mosque was the Prophet’s ﷺ way of showing that to the Companions.

*Owais is going to take 200,000 people with him to Paradise! Even a martyr only gets 70,000.

“Ma3 Al Tabe3een-Episode 3- Owais Al Qarni.” YouTube. YouTube, 03 Aug. 2011. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v35nIqZKdM&gt;.

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