Ramadan in Cayman (part 3)

After Fajr, Br Mahmood narrated the second of the 40 Hadith.  This one is on the Foundation of the Sunnah and is, roughly, as follows:


'Umar ibn Al-Khattab reported: One day while we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah there appeared before us a man whose clothes were exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly black; no signs of journeying were to be seen on him and none of us knew him. He walked up and sat down by the prophet. Resting his knees against his and placing the palms of his hands on his thighs, he said, “O Muhammad, tell me about Islam.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

Islam is to witness that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish prayer, to give the alms, the fast the month of Ramadan, and to perform pilgrimage to the House if he is capable of travel.

The man said, “You have spoken rightly,” and we were amazed at him asking him and saying that he had spoken rightly. Then he said, “Tell me about faith.” The Prophet said:

Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in the providence (al-qadr) (or destiny) of both good and evil.

The man said, “You have spoken rightly. Then tell me about excellence.” The Prophet said:

Excellence (al-Ihsan)  is to worship Allah as if you see Him, for verily, He sees you.

The man said, “Then tell me about the Hour.” The Prophet said:

The one who is asked does not know more than the one asking.

The man said, “Then tell me about its signs.” The Prophet said:

When the slave girl gives birth to her master, when the naked and barefooted will become chiefs of the people, and when the shepherds of black camels will exult themselves in constructing tall buildings.

Then he left and I stayed for a time. Then the Prophet said:

O Umar, do you know who the questioner was?

I said, “Allah and His messenger know best.” He said:

He was Gabriel (as), who came to teach the people their religion.'



After this, we had the opportunity to discuss a range of topics, including aspects of Zakat, clothing, and the instruction to have a will done up.









At Jummah, we welcomed a revert to Islam - Alhumdulillah.


The Khutbah had a focus on the Qur'an, its rights over us, and how it will be a witness for or against us on the Day.  There are those of us (and I put myself at the top of this poor list) who struggle to read the whole Qur'an at least once in an entire year and, in doing so, are deprived of so many blessings that are attained by reading the Qur'an.

We heard of those who would read the Qur'an 60 times during Ramadan, and others who would complete the Qur'an every two days through the Blessed Month.  We heard of those who had read the Qur'an 18,000 times in one part of their house, and one who would read the entire Qur'an in one rakat of salaat.  Subhanallah.

We heard of how the Qur'an would advocate on behalf of those who were about to be cast into the Fire, that those of us who would otherwise be in Hell would be saved because we had taken the time to read the Words of Allah (swt).

After the Jummah prayer and greeting the new Brother, we then had to wait patiently for the rain to ease.


After Isha, Br Mahmood continued with the description of the Noble Features of the Prophet (saw):

Anas bin Malik (Radiallhu Anhu) reports, "Rasullullah (Sallallahu alaihe wasallam) was of a medium stature, he was neither very tall nor very short. He was very handsome, of medium built and his hair was neither very curly nor very straight (but was slightly wavy). He had a wheat-coloured complexion. When he walked, he leaned forward slightly".

He explained about the wheat-coloured complexion and how, when the Prophet (saw) walked (the word used in the hadith being 'Yata-kaf-fa-oo'), it was at a fast pace, with the leg lifted with force, and leaning forward slightly.  The description is that he walked quickly and did not walk with his chest pushed out with pride.  He also didn't drag his feet when he walked.

After this, there were further Q&A sessions on aspects of salaat and other areas.

Ramadan in Cayman (Part 2)

Continuing the series, Insha'Allah

Last night (10th July) was the second Taraweeh, after which Br Mahmood gave a talk on Imam Tirmidhi's biography in preparation for his series of talks on the Imam's famous book, The Shamā'il Muhammadiyyah, often referred to as Shamā'il al-Tirmidhi or simply Shamā'il.  The book is a collection of hadiths compiled by Imam Tirmidhi regarding intricate details of the Prophet's (saw) appearance, mannerisms, belongings, and life.  The book contains just under 400 narrations, and is divided into 56 chapters.

After the Fajr salaat he began on the 40 Hadith of An-Nawawi.  The first Hadith is about 'intention', and an approximate translation of the hadith is:

'Verily, deeds are only with intentions. Indeed, every person will get rewarded only for what they intended. Therefore, whoever emigrated for worldly reasons or for a woman, then his emigration is for what he has emigrated to.'

Tonight (11th July), after the third Taraweeh, he began on the aforementioned book of Imam Tirmidhi.  The first chapter is about the Noble Features of Rasulullah (Sallallahu alaihe Wasallam), and the first Hadith Br Mahmood narrated to us is, roughly, as follows:

‘Anas (Radiallahu Anhu) reports: "Rasulullah (Sallallahu alaihe wasallam) was neither tall nor was he short (like a dwarf--He was of medium stature). In complexion, he was he was neither very white like lime, nor very dark, nor brown which results in darkness (he was illuminant, more luminous than even the full-moon on the 14th night). 
The hair of Rasullullah (Sallallahu alaihe wasallam) was neither very straight nor very curly (but slightly wavy). When he attained the age of forty, Allah the Almighty granted him nubuwwah (prophethood).He lived for ten years in Makkah (commentary) and in Madina for ten years. At that time there were not more than twenty white hair on his mubarak (blessed) head and beard.’

Br Mahmood broke down the hadith and explained various aspects of it, especially the last part which described the Prophethood as 20 years whereas the general consensus is that it was 23 years

Ramadan in Cayman (part 1)

Ramadan Mubarak

The following is something I originally posted on Facebook, but figure I should also post it here and then, throughout Ramadan, I'll post accordingly, Insha'Allah.

'So, we're well in to our first day of the Blessed Month, Alhumdulillah.

'For those of you who may be interested in how we're experiencing Ramadan in Cayman, I figured I'd do a few posts throughout the month.  As you may know, we're a small and mixed community of Muslims here, but we have no Imam - Alhumdulillah, for the past two years, we have been blessed with the presence of Br Mahmood, a Hafiz and Alim, who has volunteered to spend Ramadan with us.  He will be leading the Taraweeh prayers (and the 5 daily prayers), and giving us sermons, teaching Tajweed, commentating on the Qur'an, and doing his best to answer any questions we may have.  (I know first hand how grateful the community is to have him here)

'So, to continue:

'We had our first Taraweeh last night - somehow, I've been chosen to provide a summary of the recitation for each day, during Br Mahmood's short break.  After that, a lecture on the name of Surah Fatiha and then a brief summary of the surah was given by Br Mahmood.

'Sehri/Suhoor and then Fajr, after which Br Mahmood gave a brief talk about Imam Nawawi in order to give us some background of the great scholar before, over the course of Ramadan, briefly going through and providing some insight into the Forty Hadith of An-Nawawi.

'Other topics will be covered, Insha'Allah, after Asr and Maghrib throughout the month.'

So that's the first entry.  We're almost at the end of day 2 of the month and I'll try to post a little more about what's been happening soon, Insha'Allah.