Tarbiya 67: The Patience of Ayyoub (as)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

All the Prophets (as) except Mohammed (saw) are descendants of Isaac (as) and each of the Prophets had a lesson to teach humanity. So Yunus (Jonah) (as) for example, taught us never to get sick of calling people to the truth, because we never know what Allah has planned. Ayyoub (or Job) (as) taught us the faith of the patient.

Prophet Ayyoub (as) was blessed as most of the people he was sent to were believers i.e. had faith, and they loved him. Allah (swt) gifted him with tremendous fortunes. No one was given blessings as Ayyoub (as).

This story is for the people who suffer; those who have heavy financial burdens, those tested with ill health, those with difficult family members, the wives with abusive husbands; and it is for those with incredible blessings, who cannot imagine that their blessings can be taken away in a moment. All of us are addressed in Ayyoub’s story, for it is an example for humanity until Judgment Day.

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Tarbiya 65: Give Glad Tidings to the Strangers

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
والحمدلله رب العالمين و الصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful the Bestower of Mercy. All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the most noble of the Prophets and Messengers

Have you ever been somewhere and felt as if you did not quite belong?

These moments usually take place for me when I am hemmed in by busy London shoppers or to be more precise when I’m standing around in Topshop Oxford Circus. There is nothing wrong with wanting to buy things, and indeed many a stylish hijabi frequent these London stores, but there is something about the intensity of the Topshop Oxford Circus which can be overwhelming. It’s a combination of shop floors heaped with materialistic offerings, the ceaseless throng of eagle eyed consumers and the beat of the latest punk rock music which, for a brief moment makes me lapse into a mood of complete detachment. More common examples could be the Friday afternoon work ‘wine-down’ (actual wine included) leaving you the only sober one in the office, or the university seminar where every theory from humanism to neo-Marxism is being thrashed out as solutions to the topic of the day while your rational longs to utter, “you know there is something called Islam…”

For many, such scenarios can be moments of unease, frustration, loneliness or in some instances lead to a crisis of faith. However this doesn’t have to be the case. An explanation of the following hadith can offer some clarity;

The Prophet (saw) said, “Islam began as something strange and will revert to being strange as it begun, so give glad tidings to the strangers” (Sahih Muslim)

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