Better late than never

Al hamdulillahi rabbil 'aalameen wa sallallahu wa sallim 'alaa nabiyyeena Muhammad.

Yes, you must be shocked to find that I finally did make the effort to update this blog. I do have to apologise. Four words: menatally & physically pre-occupied. Al Hamdulillah, yesterday, I sent off the corrected draft of my thesis. So now weekends and evenings are al hamdulillah my personal domain. There was plenty that did happen while I was away, though.

Makki Masjid comes to DHA

Amongst the top news is that Hafiz Na'eem is in town. On Tues. he did us an honour by visiting. Shabbir and Mobeen also got together, and so it was a pleasant Manc. reunion. The highlight was when we prayed Isha together, and it was like being in Makki with Hafiz Na'eem leading. Al Hamdulillah. A trip to his home town, Sharakpoor, is on the cards. Al Hamdulillah, he extended his stay for another 1-2 wks... Meanwhile Shabbir is suffering from the blues... no you ask him why...

Re-united with my aqeedah

I ask the shaykh to forgive the delayed response on this, but thanks to him, his family and Shazad's ability to hold on to valuable stuff in his boot for amazingly long periods, my copy of Sharh Aqeedatul-Waasitiyya was recieved a few weeks back. A note to all people planning to move to Pakistan: Darussalam here does not publish this book so make sure you get it from there.

It was eye-watering - no not because of the dust it had gathered - but to see the scribbles in the margins. Studying this book (with a proper sharh - definitely not the one that comes with the translation) is an essential insight in understanding how Allah speaks about Himself in the Qur'an and wishes to be known by His slaves - those that seek His Pleasure. It provides a formula to comprehend the repeated emphasis that Allah gives to His Names & Attributes by ending essential Ayaat with them and making those that talk about them the best in the Qur'an (e.g. Ayat-ul-Kursi & Surat-ul-Ikhlas).

All-in-all another highlight of the past weeks.

Pictures

Jazakumullahu Khairen Shazad for posting those pictures and the video. Its a pity that I don't think I'll get permission from the shaikh to upload these. If I did it, there would be some "alterations" to make them shari'ah compliant.

Misc

Jazakumullahu Khairen Wajid for calling and giving me an update (and I assume for forwarding my apologies to the others abt. my lack of updates). I hear Muslim Money is being presented by our very own Imran. Could somebody fwd a message from me to him that he check his hotmail and give me a much needed reply.

Besides that chicken has fallen from 56 Rs./kg to 20 Rs./kg. Chanay have risen from 42 to 84 Rs./kg. Mutton as at an all time high of 275 Rs./kg. KFC though is not doing as bad as before... but the Chicken flu crisis continues. I was at a four day executive course at my university where chicken did not appear at a single meal!! We had to do with Fish.

Okay, I guess that's it for now. Insha'Allah I hope further updates are more regular. Take care

and salam.

Abdullah