How do i become Muslim

Saturday, 11 June 2016

Prophet Muhammad and the city of Madinah in The Bible

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the city of Madinah in The Bible

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the Bible detailed

Song of Songs 5:16 - A snip from Ali Ataie

Description of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the bible

Sunday, 15 December 2013

Becoming Muslim is based on Iman or Articles of Faith

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

This statement below makes you Muslim which is called the Shahadah ( it means to testify or to bear witness) if you articulate it with your tongue or express with your heart you become Muslim its that easy.

The Shahadah:"Ash-shadu anna Laa e-laha ill-lal-lah. Ash-shadu anna Muhammadar Rasoolulah."
(I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger peace be upon him).

Also every Muslim is taught that the key to "Jannah" (Paradise) is the statement in Arabic:
"Laa e-laha ill-lal-lah" (There is none worthy of worship except Allah.)

1. Islam: Islam means to Submit or Surrender by declaring or making the Testimony of faith known or called the Shahadah: Ash-shadu anna Laa e-laha ill-lal-lah. Ash-shadu anna Muhammadar Rasoolulah. by saying this are you a Muslim.

2. Iman: The Shahadah (or means to testify or to bear witness) is based on the 7 Articles of faith see below if you already believe these and can accept Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the last messenger of Allah=The God (al=The ilah=God) then you already Muslim you just have to confirm it on your tongue with the Shahadah.

The 7 Pillars of Iman, also known as the articles of faith, are a portion of the foundation in which a Muslim's beliefs stand on. These pillars are very important and hold heavy weight on the Day of Judgement. which is the statement below:

"I believe in Allah, in His Angels, His Scriptures, His Prophets, the Day of Judgement, and in the fact that every thing good or bad (in the world) is pre-destined by Allah the Exalted, and in the resurrection after death."

1. I believe in Allah,
2. His Angels,
3. His Scriptures,
4. His Prophets,
5. the Day of Judgement,
6. and in the fact that every thing good or bad (in the world) is pre-destined by Allah.
7. and in the resurrection after death."

3. Ihsan: meaning "perfection" or "excellence", Ihsan is the highest of the three levels of faith and the closest to God. It is to worship Allah as if you are seeing Him. While you do not see Him, He truly sees you. Then, Ihsan means that a Mu'hsen is sure that Allah is seeing him/her in everything he/she says or does. Therefore, a Muhsen does his/her best to say and do only what pleases God and conforms to His commands. This is the level of righteousness, the level of perfection, the level of doing and saying the ultimate good, the level of Ihsan.

The word "Ihsan" in Arabic is a derivative of the verb "ahsana," which means doing things better. Thus the literal linguistic meaning of I'hsan is doing the best, which is doing what God commanded us to do.

Iman - Article of Faith

Pillars of Practice - Part 1 of 2 - By Hamza Yusuf
(Foundations of Islam Series: Session 2)

Pillars of Practice - Part 2 of 2 - By Hamza Yusuf
(Foundations of Islam Series: Session 2)

So Iman or "Article of Faith" in more detail
1. I believe in Allah,
2. His Angels,
3. His Scriptures,
4. His Prophets,
5. the Day of Judgement,
6. and in the fact that every thing good or bad (in the world) is pre-destined by Allah.
7. and in the resurrection after death."

The 7 Pillars of Iman, also known as the articles of faith, are a portion of the foundation in which a Muslim's beliefs stand on. These pillars are very important and hold heavy weight on the Day of Judgement.

Belief in Allah
The 1st pillar is the belief in the All-Powerful, Most Beneficent. Believing in Allah, above all else is the first and most important pillar. Its not only belief in Allah alone but in the way He is described through the Qu'ran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This includes all 99 names that describe Allah.

Belief in Al-Malaa'ika (The Angels)
The 2nd pillar of iman is the belief in Allah's angels. The angels are messengers of Allah. They are not his children as some may think. They were created from light and were created, before humans, for the purpose of worshipping Allah. They can also appear in the shape of a man if so ordered to do so. Some of the angels' names, that we know of, are Jibra'il (Gabriel), Mika'il (Michael), Israfil, and Malik. They have many jobs such as guardians, gatekeepers, and Trumpeters.

Belief in Al Kutub (The Divine Scriptures)
The 3rd pillar of iman is the belief in the books of Allah. Here it is the belief that at the time when these books were sent down they truly were a message from Allah. The only book left is the Qur'an in its entirety, because it is the last revelation Allah will send to us. There are four books known to man: The Torah sent with the Prophet Musa (Moses), the Psalms sent with the Prophet Dawud (David), the Gospel sent with Prophet Isa (Jesus) and the Qur'an sent with Prophet Muhammad. We as Muslims are to believe in all of these books and not just the Qur'an.

Belief in Ar Rasul (The Messengers)
The 4th pillar is the belief in Allah's Messengers. There are twenty-five (25) Prophets mentioned in the Qur'an. These Prophets are: Elishia, Job, David, Dhul-Kifl, Aron, Hud, Abraham, Enoch, Elias, Jesus, Isac, Ishmael, Lot, Moses, Noah, Salih, Shuaib, Solomon, Ezra, Jacob, John, Jonah, Joseph, Zachariya, Muhammad. It is said that there are numerous others leading up to 313. Muhammad is the last and final Prophet and there will be none after he. It is our duty as Muslims to send salaams(the Peace and Blessings of Allah) when mentioning the names of any of the Prophets. ( it says 125,000 prophets were sent in total)

Belief in Belief in (Yawmil Akhir) The Last Day or The Day of Judgement
The 5th The most single certain and uncertain event in this world is related to the death, everyone certain that he or she will die one day but they are not certain when they will die. It is a fundamental belief of a Muslim that one day this universe will perish on the day of Jugement (Doomed day) when Angel Isra'fil (Peace be on him) will blow the trumpet. Its sound will be so frightening and intense that it's shock will kill every living thing and every material will be shattered and destroyed. That day all human beings and living souls Shall die; the entire universe will perish. Mountains will fly like cotton flakes, and the planets and stars etc. will disintegrate and fall down. The Day of Judgement (Qiyamat) is about to come. But no one known its exact time. except Allah. Our Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him) has foretold some signs of Qiyamat. By observing those signs, nearness of the Day of Judgement can be determined.

Belief in Al-Qadar (Pre-Ordainment or pre-destination)
The 6th pillar of faith is the belief in pre-ordainment (or pre-destination). What this means is that everything in our lives was already known by Allah before we were born. We are free to attempt to make good or bad deeds, but Allah knows in advance what we are going to do and has the power to determine what actually happens. Allah knows our past, present, and future.

Belief in Yawmil Qiyaamah ( Resurrection, Paradise & Hellfire)
The 7th pillar of faith in the belief in the Last Day. This is the Day of accounting for all deeds; evil or good, big or small. In our lives we need to believe that all we do will have bearing on the Last Day. No one but Allah knows when this day will come, so it is up to us to live each day as if it was our last.

How to become a Muslim (How to recite the Shahada)

This video has audio 1.33mins into it

Great and important to watch
Christian Sister Taking Shahada with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Shahadah: The Symbol of Islam by Dr Tim Winters

La-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah Shahada : Testimony to the Unity

The Importance to Learn and Say:-
La-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah [Shahada : Testimony to the Unity]Meaning:- There is no divinity But(Except) God

First will I explain from the past books, to make any sense for the present statement, in Judaism you have "Hear O Israel, the Lord our Lord is ONE Lord", and in Christianity you have "…I believe in ONE God"[john 17.3] Thus one can see the affirmation of Unity made from the past.

la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah :- The formula is called (shahada) - a Witness of Unification, a Testimony of Unity – (a contract), the witness (the saying of it witness-bearing). The shahada – or Testimony of Unity is a covenant in which Gods part will be to give salvation in the next life, or it is deposit, laid up with god, to be repaid with the interest of a reward in the next life. It (the Shahada) will accompany its utterer on the Resurrection Day, and God most High will say. "I have a covenant with this servant of Mine and I am true to the fulfilment of covenants. Let My servant enter Paradise".

The Testimony of Unity has two halves; its first a Negation (-) of any divinity apart from God that is; ‘There is no divinity(Gods)’ - la-e-lahaa ’and the second is an Affirmation, a Positive (+) of divinity of God that is; ‘but God’ ill-lal-lah.

When a Negative and Positive are joined they make a spark, a spark that turns to a light, a light that becomes a flame, a flame burning and illuminating your heart with Faith– Imaan in arabic, God Willing.

Who ever reflects deeply will find all creatures affirm the Oneness of God Most High, for example I work with computers, and I was thinking about the simple language a computer is programmed in, and its called Binary, Binary is actually Zeros and ones or Plus’s (0) and Negatives (1) or you can say - +, Negation and Affirmation.

When negation followed by the affirmation is uttered by someone who puts no other Divinity (God-head, Creator worthy of Worshipping to) except God – [ Allah in arabic His proper name] this means that he has denied and refused the illusion of polytheists (believing in more than one God [ Shirk in Arabic ]), and also means that the essence of Unification that his heart contains will be reinforced.

For it is actively strengthened by the repetition of this noble Formula of – Oneness. As in the saying "Renew you faith [Imaan] by la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah." we will explain this more in terms as an Invocation (prayer) Later on.

As means of Protection God Most High says:- la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah is My fortress, and he who enters my fortress is safe from My Chastisement.

Thou hast banished from me the evil of Wanderers of night and day by means of:- la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah.

I am protected from haunting spirits and demons and magic and (demonic) mates of evil and all the hosts of Iblis - [arabic name for Satan] by means of ; la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah.

When Moses Asked God for the Best Invocation (prayer) to Remember him continually, he was given la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah, every prophet of God was given this Formula to remember God with and By.

As a means of Forgiveness when a worshipper says ‘la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah’, a pillar of light goes up from his mouth and stands before God Most High. And God Most High says to the light, "Go to My Throne"; and it says, "Nay, by Thy might I will not go till Thou hast forgiven the one who uttered me." Then God says, "By My Might and Majesty, it was I who moved his tongue to say thee, have I not already forgiven his sins?".

The Testimony of Unity:- ‘la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah’ when recited Continually for example 100 times, it is called in arabic (Dhikr/Zikr) - Remembrance of God. Because what you are doing is making you tongue busy with this remembrance of God. As God says ‘if you remember Me I will Remember you’. This is the practice of the Prophets of God. as mentioned above. The Method one Conducts the Invocation (prayer) of la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah. Will be explained.

Remembrance of God is a fire which does not stay or spread – so if it enters a house saying, "Me and nothing other than me," which is one of the meanings of ‘la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah’ (There is no god [divinity] but [God] Allah), and there is firewood in the house, it burns it up and it becomes fire. If there is darkness in the house, it becomes light. If there is light in the house, it becomes 'light upon light'.

Remembrance of God expels from the body impure substances produced by excess in eating or from the consumption of unlawful food. As for food which is lawful, it does not touch it. So the harmful components are burned up and the good components remain.

And Whosoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it and Whosoever does an evil atom’s weight will see it.

Actions produce effects on the heart. Just as the effect of an atoms weight of food or drink or medicine is not lost on the body, so too the effect of an atom’s weight of goodness or evil is not lost either drawing near to Gods door or in separation from Him. But what is the way to come close to God you may be asking, we will now explain.

If your searching for Islam/or finding out is Islam is for you, the n the following practice May help you, Or you want to Strength your Faith in God.

On the rules of Conduct for the invocation (prayer):- la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah Testimony of Unity

Among the rules of conduct are wearing of proper, Clean ( i.e. clothes not stained with urine or its like) sweet-smelling clothes and maintaining purity of body (Cleanliness is next to Godliness) also you need to clean the Outside [body] (by have a bath and one MUST Make an Intention to coming close to God) before one can to attempt to Clean the inside [Heart].

Thus Ritual (Purity (bathing) implies the Negation of uncleanness and the Affirmation of Ritual Purity. In Almsgiving, there is negation of love of money and affirmation of love of God.

And purity of stomach by eating lawful food. Although the invocation of :- la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah, expels the parts arising from unlawful good, nevertheless, when the stomach is empty of unlawful food or whatever is doubtful, the benefit of the invocation is in a greater or more lasting illumination of the heart. When there is unlawful food in the stomach, the invocation washes it out and purifies the stomach. Consequently, at such times its benefit in illuminating the heart is weaker.

Do you not see that if you wash solid things in water, it removes the dirt, but they are not very clean? For that reason, it is preferable to wash them a second or a third time. However, if an area to be washed is already free of dirt, it increases in beauty and radiance from the first laundering. When the invocation descends into the heart, if there is darkness within, it illuminates it; and if there is already light, the invocation increase the light and intensifies it .

The rules of conduct associated with the invocation are sincerity, perfuming the place of invoking with sweet fragrance for sake of the angels, sitting cross-legged facing the direction of prayer (that’s east). Close one’s eyes and face straight ahead.

The novice should invoke with perfect force and respectful veneration. There is no divinity But Go:- ‘la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah ’ should rise from above his navel. By the phrase ‘There is no divinity’ (la-e-lahaa ) he should intend excluding from the heart what is other-than-God. By the phrase ‘but God’ (ill-lal-lah), he should intend uniting the formula in the heart so to fix ill-lal-lah firmly in the heart and let it flow throughout all the members of the body, casing the meaning of the invocation to be present in his heart at every instant.

The lengthening of the vowel a in La-e-laha , is done by saying Laa-e-laaha is considered good, during the time of elongation, the invoker can visualise in his mind all opposites and contraries and expel them, (No I don’t believe or Worship, in the god of money or film/pop stars, son of god, god of sun? or of moon, god of cow or tree or goddess or any other man made created gods of any kind ) That is followed by ill-lal-lah (but God – Allah is the proper for god ), and that is closer to sincerity because it is acknowledgement of the Divinity. First one Negates His essence with la-e-la-ha, he nevertheless affirms His Being with ill-lal-lah. Indeed, ill-la (except) is a light placed in the heart, illuminating it.

Invoking Causes God’s remembrance of the servant, which is the great honour and loftiest distinction. Through the invocation of la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah, the heart of man lives just as the seed lives through the downpour of rain. The invocation is the nourishment of the soul just as food is the nourishment of the body. Invoking polishes the heart of its rust, which is forgetfulness (Ghaflah) into the pursuit of worldly passion.

The Testimony of Unity:- ‘la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah’ should be recited Continually for 100 or times for 40 day or more (if you like repeat it for 5 to 10mins with your Eyes closed and you Hearts Open) After Washing ,as described above. This is best done in the Evening just before going to Bed. For results will be seen in dreams this way. God Willing.

It is to mediation like a lamp that guides one in the dark towards an open road. It thwarts sinful actions: ‘…Verily, good deeds annul bad deeds…’ invoking puts an end to the separation that occurs between the Lord and the forgetful servant.

Its forgetfulness of God that has made the servants to forget their souls and that is the extreme of corruption. Leading to confusing and darkness, invoking is a light for the servant in the world and the next, his grave, his resurrection and his assembling with others on the Day of Judgement. it is the fundamental principle and the door to spiritual growth. It’s the sign of authority whereby it assails the ego and passionate desires. When invocation of la-e-lahaa ill-lal-lah, is firmly rooted in the heart and drops down in it and the tongue becomes subordinate to it, the invoker is in need of nothing; so he progresses and ascends. As for the forgetful man, even if he be wealthy, he is in reality poor, and if he be powerful he is actually base.

From the results of this practice, you will see in your dreams or by inner understanding of overwhelming. That Faith will be Deposited within your Heart. This of course is the blessing of the God Almighty, May you be Guided to the Truth. Finally say a supplication:- O Lord (Ya Rab-bi) for the sake of you Beloved (Habib), and for the sake all your Prophets, Saints and Martyrs. And for the sake for you Greatest Hidden Name (Ism-al-Azaam). I Beg for you Guidance (He-day-yah).

References:-
Gift for the Seek by Imam Abdallah ibn Alawi Al-Haddad
The Key to Salvation by Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari
Muslims devotions, a study of Prayer-Manual in Common Use by Constance E. Padwick

Contact details :- Muhammad Sajad Ali-
07960-85=85-42- UK or email islam2jannat@yahoo.co.uk