Eid Mubarak!

The Best Worship to do on the Best Night

"The following article was inspired by a short reminder given by Shaykh Yaser Birjas at an Iftar party. (Taken from: MuslimMatters) "

JAK Sr.Zakira for the email.

When Muslims seek the Night of Power (Lailat Al-Qadr) during the last ten nights of Ramaḍān, they often find themselves wondering what the best act of worship is to perform on such a blessed night. Is it praying ṣalāh? Is it reciting the Qur’ān?

While the acts of worship one can perform are many, one of the best we can do is to make du‘ā’. Du‘ā’, the Prophet (S) said, is the best form of worshiping Allah. Similarly, the Night of Power is the best night in the entire year.

So we have two of the bests amongst their classes. Imagine the power of combining them at the same time. You would be performing the best possible worship during the best possible time.

Greater than or equal to 1,000

The Night of Power is usually associated with being equal to a thousand months. But in the Qur’an in Surah Qadr, Allah (SWT) answers His question of what is the Night of Power is by stating it is better than, not equal to, a thousand months. The true amount to is left to our imagination.

With that considered, if one were to perform enough du‘ā’ during the Night of Power , the result would be something better than, not equal to, an entire lifetime of making du‘ā’ to Allah (SWT).

Imam Aḥmad’s Du‘ā’ List

It was said about Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal that he would carry around a list of names for people who asked him to make du‘ā’ for, adding requests to his list as they came in. It’s amazing that even someone in his position and as busy as he was would fulfill the trusts given to him by the people.

This Night of Power , follow his footsteps and create your own list of du‘ā’ to make for both yourself and for all the people who have asked you to make du‘ā’ for. We all have people who’ve asked us to remember them in our du‘ā’. More often than not, though, we forget to make du‘ā’ for them like they requested. The Night of Power is our chance to make it up to all of them.

And don’t think fulfilling this is just to help others. The Prophet (S) told us if we make du‘ā’ for others, an Angel will make that same du‘ā’ for us. Imagine getting all of what you’re asking for others to have for yourself. The bigger your du‘ā’ list, the more you can get.

‘Ā’isha’s question

The most critical connection between du‘ā’ and the Night of Power comes from an instance when ‘Ā’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, asked the Prophet (S) what she should say if she found herself with the Night of Power . The Prophet (S) responded with the well-known du‘ā’, “Allahumma, innaka ‘Afūwwun, tuḥibbu al-‘afwa fa‘afu ‘annī,” which means, “O Allah! Indeed you are Pardoning, you love to pardon, so please pardon me,” which may already know about.

But try to envision what the scenario is here. ‘Ā’isha didn’t ask what she should do if she found the Night of Power. Instead, she asked what should she say. In other words, she knew that if there was one thing to focus on that blessed night, it should be du‘ā’ to Allah.

On top of that, the Prophet (S) responded with just the advice of making du‘ā’ (and in specific one asking for forgiveness of one’s sins). Here is ‘Ā’isha, the most beloved of his family who you would think he would give a huge list of monumental acts of worship to perform, yet even she is being told to make du‘ā’ the priority. If ‘Ā’isha was instructed to do so during the blessed Night of Power , what about us during that night?

A lifetime of Night of Powers

The Prophet (S) once told the Companions that whoever misses out on the benefit of the Night of Power will have lost something irreplaceable. As you’re searching the night and making du‘ā’ during every one of the last ten nights, do yourself a favor and make a smart du‘ā’.

Ask Allah (SWT) to enable you to worship during the last 10 nights of every Ramadan for the rest of your life, guaranteeing that you will always find the Night of Power.

When that du‘ā’ is accepted inshaAllah, not only will you have asked Allah (SWT) for more than a lifetime to grant you this ability, He will give you a lifetime of nights worth more than a lifetime in which you can keep asking to find again and again.

That’s a du‘ā’ worth making for a lifetime.

Ramadan Mubarak!

Summer Break

Since many of our Youth Group members and advisers will be out of Kuwait during the summer, we will be taking a break.
Weekly Meetings will resume in October insha Allah.

Even though we won't be meeting, stay active! Put what you learned all year to practice this summer!

See you soon!

First Annual Banquet!

Come join us for our last get together before the summer break!!

Movie Screening! 5/1/2010

We look forward to seeing you there!

Go Green!!

Today, April 22nd marks the 40th Anniversary of 'Earth Day', a day which is celebrated in almost 200 countries around the world to bring awareness to the importance of being environmentally friendly and diversify the environmental movement worldwide. This definitely is an amazing cause, but did you know that this concept has been taught and practiced in our religion for more than 1400 years? Muslims have long had a responsibility to be "Green" & environmentally friendly long before these terms became as common as they are today. Subhan Allah!!

Join us for a "Go Green" discussion @ Youth Group this week!

Where- Masjid Al Othman
When- Saturday April 24 @ 10:00 am

You don't want to miss out on this!

The Deed of the Week Challenge

What is "The Deed of the Week Challenge"? Well, its as simple as this- each week at the end of our Youth Group meeting, we sit together and pick a goal or deed to accomplish in the coming week. For example: read one page of Quran each day or do athkar after Fajr, etc... Each week we will add on a new goal/deed to accomplish in the next week! InshaAllah in no time our list of 'deeds' we do as a group will grow!
Simple enough? Excited to start now? Are you up for the challenge?
I thought so!!
With that, I would like to present this week's "Deed of the Week"- Fast on Monday and Thursday. If you already do it, thats wonderful! If you don't, then try it this week! If fasting on both days is a little too difficult to start, just start with Monday, or with Thursday... slowly the habit will grow insha Allah!

If you weren't at the meeting today your homework is this-- find out why we picked this goal. Why fast on these specific days?

Lessons from the Story of Dhul Qarnain- Ayoub Niyas

قَالُوا يَا ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ إِنَّ يَأْجُوجَ وَمَأْجُوجَ مُفْسِدُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَهَلْ نَجْعَلُ لَكَ خَرْجًا عَلَىٰ أَن تَجْعَلَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمْ سَدًّا ﴿٩٤﴾ قَالَ مَا مَكَّنِّي فِيهِ رَبِّي خَيْرٌ فَأَعِينُونِي بِقُوَّةٍ أَجْعَلْ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُمْ رَدْمًا ﴿٩٥

These are the two versus from سورة الكهف ayat 94 and 95 depicting the story of Dhul-Qarnain. Dhul-Qarnain was tendered to build a "Wall سَدًّا" to seperate a nation from the evils of Gog-&-Magog. In return, Dhul-Qarnain offered them to build a "Barrier/Dam رَدْمًا" voluntarily...

Lessons:

1. Try and seperate yourself from the evil elements in your vicinity.

2. If you can't do it by yourself, or if more people than just yourself are being affected, consult one another and see if there is someone who can do it.

3. Be grateful with what Allah has blessed you with. Firstly, you have to acknowledg the things that are being entrusted onto you by Allah, and then thank him and be grateful and use them to his Will.

4. Use those blessings to benefit yourself and others. Allah has trusted us with so many things, and in return we have to serve him sometimes by serving his creations in his way and for his cause.

5. Working is in and part of our Deen. Working for money is part of our deen, but it also shows more appreciation for Allah's blessings if we sometimes work expecting no worldly returns, purely for the sake of Allah, if we don't need it.

6. If someone asks for some form of help, offer them the best help. For example, if someone asks you to build them a wall for protection, offer to build them a barrier or dam. There is more ajr, inshAllah.

7. If someone asks for something from you out of sincere concern for themselves and the Ummah, help them out to the best of your ability to ease their burdens, and make them feel more comfortable about the situation. For instance here, the reason for the wall being asked to be built was for the sake of protecting themselves from the evils and troubles brought forth by Gog and Magog [aka Ya'jooj and Ma'Jooj], which is a sincere reason. Therefore, the reaction of Dhul Qarnain was the best, and he genuinely did his best by giving them better than was asked and expected of him. I hope I communicated that point well enough.

8. [This may seem like a repeated point, but it's only because it's all interrelated, but it's separate] Dhul Qarnain, as we learned from that lecture, was a leader. He lead the entire world. I'm going to go ahead and assume he was already a leader during this particular incident, seeing as the people asked HIM to help. So, in that situation, he displayed superb leadership. The lesson: If you lead a people, take their best interests at heart, and do all in your power to help them and keep them safe. You are there to serve THEM, and not the other way around. Sure, you rule over them, but only as a central figure to settle differences and make key decisions and such. But in reality, a true leader, however powerful, will do what is best for the people, as opposed to doing what's best for himself and just serving his own greed and worldly desires. And he didn't accept their payments, because as a leader, he is only doing his duty by serving them, and since he was capable of doing the job without their money with what Allah had already provided him, he did it without taking more from the people.

Tawhid -Br. Fazal Careem

التوحيد

Linguistically the word التوحيد is used to mean unification whereas from the Islamic legislative perspective meaning of التوحيد is to “single out Allaah in all forms of worship with regard to beliefs, actions and sayings” It is represented by the testimony that we make as Muslims أشهد ألا إله إلا الله، وأشهد أن محمداً رسول الله. Understanding and practical implementation of التوحيد is the single most important aspect of our existence without which we are in danger of its opposite which is الشرك.

Hence the reason why التوحيد is important is because it is the fulfillment of the reason for which we were created. Allaah says in Soorah Ath-thaariyaat :

وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُونِ (I did not create Jinn and mankind except to worship me)

However the term العبادة (worship) from the Islamic perspective has a very unique meaning different from its usage in other religions and it is the comprehensive study and understanding of التوحيد that will assist Muslims to correctly adopted and implement the worship of Allaah.

Call of every Prophet

It is important to remember also that the call of every Prophet was primarily to التوحيد first. Because when the society has truly understood التوحيد its rectification becomes easier. Allaah says

وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُواْ الْطَّـغُوت( We have sent to every nation a Prophet calling to worship Allaah (upon Tawheed) and to avoid all false deities of worship (16:36)

Division of التوحيد

So Scholars from the earliest times have divided التوحيد into three components to help facilitate its easy understanding and implementation

Categories

توحيد الرببية
This is the belief that Allah (SWT) is One without partner in His dominion. He is Lord and Sustainer of the universe in all matters of creation, planning and controlling, i.e. the Creator. Tawheed al-Rububiyah is based on the fundamental concept that Allah (SWT) alone caused all things to exist. Allah (SWT) sustains and maintains the creation and He (SWT) is independent from His creation. Allah (SWT) says;

" Allah is Creator of all things, and He is Guardian over all things." [Quran Az-zumar 39:62] ٱللَّهُ خَـٰلِقُ ڪُلِّ شَىۡءٍ۬‌ۖ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىۡءٍ۬ وَكِيلٌ۬
"Allah created you and whatever you do." وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمۡ وَمَا تَعۡمَلُونَ [Quran As-Saaffaat 37:96]
"And no calamity strikes except by Allah’s permission." مَآ أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ إِلَّا بِإِذۡنِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۗ [Quran At-Taghaabun 64:11]

توحيد الاسماء والصفات
This is the belief that Allah (SWT) is one without similitude in His names and attributes. Allah (SWT) must be referred to in the manner He and His Messenger (SAW) have described Him. Allah (SWT)’s attributes and names must be taken in the absolute sense, free from human deficiencies of interpretation. Allah (SWT) states;
"There is nothing like Him" لَيۡسَ كَمِثۡلِهِۦ شَىۡءٌ۬‌ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡبَصِيرُ [Quran Ash-Shura 42:11]
"And never has there been anyone coequal with Him." وَلَمۡ يَكُن لَّهُ ۥ ڪُفُوًا أَحَدٌ [Quran Al- Ikhlas 112:4]

If we start applying human interpretations to Allah (SWT)’s attributes, in essence what we are doing is assigning human attributes to Allah (SWT). This is contrary to the fact that He is independent from His creation. So we do not do the following:

Comparison : تشبيه

Tashbeeh means comparing the Attributes of Allah (swt) to His creation.

Distortion : تعريف

Means changing or altering the meaning.

Negation : تعطيل

Means denying or negating Allah’s Devine attributes..

False Taweel : تأويل

Means making false interpretation of Allah’s Attribute.

توحيد الالهية

A confession with your heart that you have to say: "I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah Alone." And act upon that confession so that we pray to none but Allah, invoke none but Allah, ask for help from none (unseen) but Allah, swear by none but Allah, offer an animal as sacrifice to none but Allah, …etc. and that means, -- all that Allah and Allah’s Messenger, صلى الله عليه وسلم, order you to do (in Qur’an and in As-Sunna [legal ways of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم]) you must do, and all that Allah, s.w.t, Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم forbid you, you must not do. And this is called (your confession for the) "Oneness of the worship of Allah",

When the complete conviction of Tawheed (i.e. to submit, to worship, to obey, to follow sincerely for Allah (SWT) ) becomes a reality in each aspect of an individual’s life, man is released from all other bonds and attachments. Thus the only allegiance is to Allah (SWT) and there is complete disassociation from Kufr. This allegiance is to Allah, His deen, His books, His messengers and to the path of His good servants and purification from any Taghout. ‘Al-Taghout’ has been defined by Ibn Qayim as anything where the servant exceeds his limit of servitude.

"Whoever rejects Taghout and believes in Allah will have grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break." فَمَن يَكۡفُرۡ بِٱلطَّـٰغُوتِ وَيُؤۡمِنۢ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدِ ٱسۡتَمۡسَكَ بِٱلۡعُرۡوَةِ ٱلۡوُثۡقَىٰ [Quran 2:256]

Conclusion

Each classification overlaps and is inseparable. Therefore to negate any aspect of Tawheed is to negate a fundamental principle of Tawheed.

Why Important to study this in this manner?

· To know who to worship Allaah in a manner He is pleased with

· To know who to avoid the opposite which is what?.....الشرك

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَغۡفِرُ أَن يُشۡرَكَ بِهِۦ وَيَغۡفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٲلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ‌ۚ ا

We all know that the first question that will be asked of us when we are in the grave is من ربك “Who is your Lord?”. The correct understanding and practical implementation of التوحيد will ان شاء الله provide us with a sound basis to answer this all important question with ease….AMEEN!

Family Day

"Tawhid"

Join us for this week's very important meeting and discussion on Tawhid with guest speaker, Br. Fazal Careem.
at 10:00 - Masjid Al Othman.

See you all there!

"How I Came to Islam"

Join us this Saturday for an enlightening meeting!

"How I Came to Islam"

the story of a Lebanese, Christian revert

10:00-12:00 noon

Youth Group this Saturday-- Feb 20

Join us for the Youth Group Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 20th at Masjid Al Othman where we will hear from special guests from Australia!


*we will have an Umrah Orientation meeting immediately after Dhuhr*

A Weekend of Events No one should miss!

The Islamic Center of Kuwait in coordination with the ICK Youth Group presents
an uplifting weekend with

Amir Abdul Malik Ali
(Guest Speaker from California, USA)

Will the Ummah Prevail?
Friday February 12 @ 7:15 pm
(please join us for Isha at the Grand Mosque and we will begin immediately after)
at the Grand Mosque East Tent

~~~~

Special Program for Youth Only-
"Generation Next"
Saturday February 13 from 10:00am-3:00pm
Boat Trip to Failaka Island
(6 kd includes meal and ride)
**due to limited space, advance reservations are required- email youth@ickuwait.com to register.
Acceptance will be on a first come, first serve basis**

~~~~

"The Legacy of a Struggle"
Sunday February 14 @ 7:15 pm
(please join us for Isha at the Grand Mosque and we will begin immediately after)
at the Grand Mosque Theater



For more information, call 9441-5462 or email us at
info@ickuwait.com or youth@ickuwait.com

Boat Trip w/ Amir Abdul Malik Ali (guest from California, USA)

The Youth Group of the Islamic Center of Kuwait presents

A Special Program for Youth
with Amir Abdul Malik Ali
(our special guest speaker from California, USA)

"Generation Next"
Saturday February 13 from 10:00am-3:00pm
Boat Trip to Failaka Island
(6 kd includes meal and ride)
~~meet at Salmiya Yacht Club at 9:30 SHARP~~

*Only a few spaces are left because those who attended the meeting today already registered!*

**due to limited space, advance reservations are required**

Register ASAP- youth@ickuwait.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OTHER AMAZING EVENTS COMING THIS WEEKEND WITH OUR GUEST--
DON'T MISS OUT!!

Will the Ummah Prevail?
Friday February 12 @ 7:00 pm (after isha)
at the Grand Mosque East Tent

"The Legacy of a Struggle"
Sunday February 14 @ 7:00 pm (after isha)
Location- TBA

Announcements!

1- Meeting this Saturday- We will be meeting from 10:00 am- noon as usual. After the meeting, we will go to an area to deliver the items from the Operation: Winter Warmth. If you are interested in joining us for distribution, please email us so we can arrange transportation.

2- Operation: Winter Warmth- collection will continue this week insha Allah. If you or any one you know has any items for donation, please bring them tomorrow at Jumah!!

3- Umrah- Registration for the Youth Umrah trip is now open and filling up fast!! For more information on the trip, email us at Youth@ickuwait.com

Tables at Jumah!

This Friday, we will have tables at both Masjids- Masjid Al Othman and Masjid Al Redhan to take care of-
1- registration for Umrah
2- collecting items for Operation: Winter Warmth

If you would like to volunteer at one of the tables, please let us know!!

See you all on Saturday at 10:00 am for the meeting!

Youth Umrah Trip 2010

Register via email- youth@ickuwait.com

Help Us Help Others!

Operation: Winter Warmth
A warm clothes drive to help Kuwait's less fortunate.
Do your part! Help keep someone warm this winter.


We will be accepting the following items:
-socks (new, clean)
-jackets/coats (in good condition)
-blankets (in good condition)


Drop off locations/times:
-Masjid Al Othman (kuwait city)
Friday, January 8 and 15 > after Jumah
and Saturday January 6,16 > between 10 and 12

OR

-Masjid Al Redhan (fintas)
Friday, January 8 and 15 > after Jumah


If you would like to drop off items out of the designated time frame,
please call 9441-5462 or email youth@ickuwait.com