Assalaamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh My dear Students It is with great pleasure and anticipation that I write these words, as Allah سبحانه و تعالى has graced us with another opportunity to be in each other’s company in this most blessed of pursuits, the seeking of Sacred Knowledge. I am counting the days until I arrive in Dubai to meet my ‘Dubai family’ (as I like to call you all.) I also thank my ‘Kalemah family’ for their hard work in planning and facilitating my visit, for whoever does not thank the people does not thank Allah. I always tell the brothers and sisters at Kalemah to not consider me a “guest speaker” but to consider me part of the team, and I hope that is the case بإذن الله. ~A Beneficial Reminder~ O slave of Allah! With the permission of Allah, on the 29th and 30th of August, 2014, we shall gather to learn the most noble and virtuous of all the branches of knowledge. We will make a humble effort, over the course of our weekend together, to gain an in-depth understanding of the Most Perfect, Most Beautiful Names of our Lord and Creator. We say that it is the most virtuous because the virtue of a particular branch of knowledge is directly proportional to the virtue of the subject being studied. And what is of greater virtue than the Lord of All Creation? From the virtue of this knowledge is that it is one of the major objectives of the Qur’an. Allah سبحانه و تعالى tells us about Himself in different ways throughout the majority of its verses. The more we know about Him, the better we can fulfill His rights over us and the better we can realize the true peace and tranquility that is only attained through Remembrance of Him. And from the virtue of this knowledge is that increases our knowledge of His characteristics and qualities and through this, our love of and faith in Him. For how can we claim to love someone while knowing next to nothing about them? This is something we should ponder. And from the virtue of this knowledge is that it increases our understanding of the Qur’an and gives life and emotion to our acts of worship. O slaves of Allah and children of Adam! We were not granted this grand blessing of Islam to engage in mere ritualistic actions devoid of any spirit or substance. And we were not sent the Noble Quran to merely recite it without pondering its meanings. Proper knowledge of our Creator is what opens the heart to the sweetness of His worship. And from the virtue of this knowledge is that it corrects any misconceptions or flaws in our conceptualization of Allah. Such errors result in an incorrect understanding of Allah and His characteristics, which may lead to spiritual diseases or grant openings to Shaytan to attack us through Doubts or Desires. Thus, we list just four of more than a dozen benefits that we hope to attain through learning about the Beautiful Names of Allah at our upcoming weekend seminar ~A Call to Action~ My beloved student, only six (6) days remain before registration for the weekend seminar closes. I highly recommend that you register yourselves on kalemah.org, if you haven’t already, and that you spread the word. Invite your family, friends, classmates and colleagues. It will be a weekend to remember بإذن الله. May Allah bless you. I love you for the sake of Allah and look forward to seeing you next weekend إن شاء الله. Warmest regards, The destitute one in need of Allah’s Grace, Sajid Ahmed Umar
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 08:02:34 +0000