FEATURED

On Devotional Poetry

We are excited to announce our upcoming Weekend Retreat, which will be held on June 7-9 titled On Devotional Poetry, a study of Book 18 of Imam al- Ghazali’s masterpiece Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (Revival of the Religious Sciences).

While there are differing scholarly opinions with respect to music and singing, Imam al-Ghazali argues in Book 18 that there is both textual evidence and proper analogy that indicate their permissibility under certain occasions and conditions. For example, Imam al-Ghazali mentions the singing that occurred upon the arrival of the Messenger to Madinah and on another occasion, he ﷺ allowed Sayyida Aisha, Radiallahu Anha, to listen to servants beating drums during Eid. Additionally, the messenger ﷺ said with respect to one of his ﷺ he Messenger companions, “[he] has been gifted with a sweet melodious voice out of the voices of the family of Dawud.”

In Imam al-Ghazali’s On Devotional Poetry, he discusses the differing scholarly opinions on music and singing, the permissibility of listening to pleasant sounds, types of pleasant sounds including poetry, five contingencies which make music and singing impermissible, and rebuttals to arguments prohibiting music and singing.

We welcome you to join us in exploring this often misunderstood but, in these times, highly relevant issue in what we pray will be a weekend filled with abundant blessings as we acquire knowledge and spend time in devotion together.

JOURNEYING BACK TO THE QURʾĀN

LIVING QURʾĀN IN THE PROPHETIC LIGHT

This seminar delineates a path to the Qurʾān that takes us to the heart of the Prophetic era when the Qurʾān was being revealed to the blessed heart of the unlettered Prophet. It was an era in history and out of history, when both dimensions of Time were fully operative in all realms of existence throughout the entire order of the cosmos: serially, through successive descent of the Qurʾān from the Well-Guarded Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), aya by aya and sura by sura—najman—in Divinely ordained order, precisely timing the revelation with the needs of the Prophetic mission, and vertically, anchoring every letter of the last of His messages to the humans and the Jinns in the ever-lasting realm of His Mercy, will full protection from all intrusions from all creation. Thus anchored in timeless meta-history, and simultaneously operating in history, the Qurʾān is a Light, as it self-referentially calls itself nūran mubīn, that “whose radiance cannot be extinguished, a lamp whose flame does not die, an ocean whose depth cannot be fathomed, a path that does not lead astray, a blaze whose brilliance does not darken, a criterion whose evidence cannot be suppressed, an elucidation whose cornerstones cannot be demolished,” as ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (13 BH-40/609-660), Allah be well- pleased with him, described it. 

This light came into this world through another Light: Muhammadan Light. Join us to explore what was it like to receive the Qurʾān from his blessed tongue? What was it like to live with him, upon him blessings and peace, and listen to him recite the verses of the Book and receive Wisdom from him and be purified through him? How did this Prophetic Light really transform and purify those who were Divinely chosen to be his Companions? What does it mean to be the true inheritors of the Book that Allah has made “the quencher of the thirst of the learned, a springtime for the hearts of jurists, a destination for the path of the righteous, a cure after which there is no malady, a light not followed by darkness, and a rope whose knots are firm”. 

How can we—living as we are at a time of great tribulations and engulfed in the darkness of the post-modern world—reach out and connect to this Light beyond the gulf of darkness, and illuminate our hearts through the medium of Muhammad Light? 

The seminar content draws from several entries of the just published second volume of the Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qurʾān (IEQ)—a seven-volume reference work that presents all concepts, places, persons, events, and things mentioned in the Qurʾān based on a wide range of primary sources including in diverse branches of the sciences of the Qurʾān such as Tafsir, Hadith, Arabic lexicons, Prophetic biographies, universal histories, specialized dictionaries, and treatises on spiritual and moral psychology some of which have never been used in any reference work on the Qurʾān in any Western language. 

We invite you to join us to learn more about how IEQ can be a helpful tool to connect to the ever-lasting Light of the Qurʾān and light of the one who was chosen by Allah Most High to convey His Light to us. 

More details and registration next week InshAllah!

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 

“By the One in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the believer is like a bee which eats that which is pure and wholesome and lays that which is pure and wholesome. When it lands on something it does not break or ruin it.”

This weekly Majlis includes a recitation of the prophetic biography in poetry form followed by a counsel intended to connect the listener to the Prophet ﷺ and his teachings. The more we know about his life, character, and way, the more we will come to love and follow the one beloved to Allah.

Wherever They Put Their Feet, We Put Ours

Yahya rhodus

Shaykh Yahya shares the great merit and depth of Imam Abu Abdullah Mohamed bin Ismail Al-Bukhari, the greatest Hadith Collector the Umma has known. He describes the seeds planted by the great Imams Mother from childhood leading to the beginning of his path at the age of 11 where he embarked on a journey memorizing 600,000 hadith from over 1,000 scholars from around the Muslim world. Shaykh Yahya reminds us of the importance of the Oral tradition of Islam as a primary means of the protection of Allah سبحانه وتعالى over his religion.

Journey to Timeless Wisdom

Hasan Petrus

“If we have that love of RasulAllah ﷺ deeply instilled within us, then nothing is impossible. Why? Because we are connecting into the same strength that the companions connected into.”

The weekly Jumu'a, or Friday, Congregational prayer is live streamed from Al-Maqasid from 12:15pm-1:10pm.

The Realities of Love - yusuf weltch

“The heart is meant to love Allah. That’s what it was created for.”

In this extremely instructive and comprehensive khutba, Yusuf Weltch mentions that love is the foundation of everything in the religion. He then gives a beautiful discussion on loving  Allah, سبحانه و تعالى‎, and His Messenger ﷺ, including:

(1)  Why people love;

(2)  The lowest and highests levels of love;

(3)  The signs of love;

(4)  Examples of love; and

(5)  Ways to achieve and increase love of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.

“Whoever is not concerned with the affairs of the believers is not from them.”

As believers, we never lose hope and we recognize that Allah's will is supreme. Even when the Prophet ﷺ faced the most debilitating challenges, he ﷺ turned to Allah constantly and sought only His support. Therefore, we must turn to Allah ﷻ and seek His assistance and protection.

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