POST #6 on various words of advice and stories of remembrance from sheik Abdullah Azzam.

How to Respect Your Elders:

"O Allah, teach us manners! O Allah, teach us manners! One person is sitting next to his father, one leg on the other, sitting with his feet facing his father! Why?

By Allah, one of our teachers in the Islamic Movement in Jordan entered a gathering and saw one of the youth sitting back, one leg over the other. He said to him: "Why are you sitting like this? Is this the Sunnah?"

Does it make sense that Islam tells you to do this? Is it possible? It is reported in the 'Sahihayn' that when Fatimah would enter the dwelling of the Messenger of Allah, he would get up for her, hug her, and spread a mat on the ground for her to sit on. Fatimah was a fourteen year-old girl!

Because of this, I wish that we and our youth would read the fatawa. Whatever Ibn Taymiyyah says, we accept. Ibn Taymiyyah is the shaykh of the Salafiyyin; we accept whatever he says. Ibn Taymiyyah says: "It is allowed to stand up out of respect for those who are people of position and righteousness." Likewise, an-Nawawi wrote a book on this topic, titled 'at-Tarkhis bil-Qiyam,' (The Allowance of Standing) which is a full book in which he brought many authentic ahadith, and said that this is what such-and-such scholars agreed on - including Ahmad bin Hambal and Malik - that they would stand up in such situations.

So, gatherings require an attitude of respect. One of our brothers said to me: "I never in my life relaxed in the presence of my father, because I consider this to be bad manners in respecting the parents. If he would order me to do something, or speak to me about anything, I would stand between his hands until he would finish what he wanted to say. Then, I would wait either for he or my mother to allow me to leave."

Manners! O Allah, teach us manners!"

['Fi Dhilal Surat at-Tawbah'; p. 79]

POST #5 on various words of advice and stories of remembrance from sheik Abdullah Azzam.

Zeal Alone Is Not Enough:

"By Allah, one of the youth came to me, and he would always visit me. He loved me, and he was Jordanian. He took Shukri Mustafa as a leader, and became fascinated by his ideas. I never saw a youth holding onto his faith as tightly as this one. He was a pharmacy student, and he would sometimes come to break his fast with me in Cairo.

One day, after he met Shukri Mustafa, he came to visit me. He started to speak, and I began to enter into a discussion with him. Suddenly, it was time to pray. I noticed that he was reluctant to pray behind me, so, I said to him: "Please, lead us in the prayer." So, he stepped forward and led us. Afterwards, everytime I would step forward to lead the prayer, he would say that he was travelling (so that he would lead, instead). So, I asked him, in a straightforward manner, "What do you think of me?"

He asked: "Do you want me to be frank with you?"

I said: "Yes, be frank."

He said: "I consider you to be a disbeliever."

I asked: "Why, son? What is the issue?"

He replied: "You are from the Ikhwan al-Muslimin."

I said: "OK."

He went on: "Everyone in the Ikhwan al-Muslimin is a disbeliever."

I asked: "Why?"

He said: "Because they do not make takfir of al-Hudaybi, the disbeliever [*]."

Imagine! With such ease! I said to him: "Come, let me tell you: ash-Shafi'i and Ahmad bin Hambal differed over the disbelief of the one who abandons the prayer out of laziness. ash-Shafi'i said that he is not a disbeliever, and Ahmad said he is a disbeliever, and then they debated over it, with none of them declaring the other to be a disbeliever."

Subhan Allah! Because of his extreme zeal and emotion, he said to me, in his exact words: "If I was present, and had debated ash-Shafi'i, and he had refused to make takfir, I would have declared ash-Shafi'i to be a disbeliever."

I said: "There is no might nor power except with Allah. We are finished. Get out of here. If it has gotten to this point, then we are finished."

And yes, he eventually became entagled with Shukri Mustafa, and received a fifteen-year sentence, and he is still in jail until now. They, because of their lack of knowledge, are simply youth with much zeal, and the hearts of these youth were made to follow their desires."

['Fi Dhilal Surat at-Tawbah'; p. 104]

[*] al-Hudaybi (may Allah have Mercy on him) was a scholar from the Ikhwan who was arrested by 'Abd an-Nasir. Although he himself considered 'Abd an-Nasir to be a disbeliever, when he was being tortured in prison, and was asked if 'Abd an-Nasir was a disbeliever, he would reply: "What would we gain if we did or didn't declare him to be a disbeliever?" - saying this out wisdom, in order to avoid having anything damning recorded against him by his own tongue. So, Shukri's group made takfir of al-Hudaybi because of the answer he gave, which didn't contain explicit takfir of 'Abd an-Nasir. They then went even farther, declaring the Ikhwan to be kuffar for not making takfir of al-Hudaybi.

POST #4 on various words of advice and stories of remembrance from sheik Abdullah Azzam.

 Give Advice Without Causing Offense:

"...and because of this, the Prophet exposed for us those who please us with their tongues, when he said: "Throw dirt in their faces," meaning, the faces of those who praise people to their faces. Likewise, he said to the one who praised his brother to his face: "You have broken your brother's back." So, praising your brother to his face is disliked - if not forbidden - except in the case that you are trying to point out some of his faults. In such a situation, there is no problem in you mentioning some of his praiseworthy traits, such as saying to him: 'Brother, you are very intelligent, and you are a man who is loved by the people, and you are a person who is considered a leader. However, I see in you such-and-such a fault, so, is it possible for you to correct these faults?' And if the person that you wish to advise has a position of authority over you, is older than you, or is your parent, then there is no problem in sending him a message, for example.

Hasan al-Banna - may Allah have Mercy upon him - said: "We used to follow this way of commanding the good and forbidding the evil. We had a shaykh who used to teach us and guide us, so, one day, I saw him praying between the pillars of the mosque. So, I wanted to advise him that praying between the pillars of the mosque is disliked (makruh). So, I wrote him a letter, and addressed it on behalf of 'A Doer of Good,' saying: "O Shaykh, I saw you praying between the pillars of the mosque, and this is disliked, as the Prophet said." I then signed it 'A Doer of Good,' and sent it to him by mail. He got the letter and read it, then he said: "O youth! I have received a letter from a man who advised me not to pray between the pillars of the mosque, and I did not previously know that this is disliked, so, don't do it.""

Hasan al-Banna added: "I was amongst the youth that he was addressing. So, we were able to fulfill a good action without causing any insult or offense to our teacher...."

Therefore, commanding the good and forbidding the evil requires a person who loves the people; a person who looks at the bigger picture; a person with a gentle tongue. Do not come to one and say: 'I hate you for the Sake of Allah because you do this or that.' Are you not able to say, instead: 'I love you for the Sake of Allah, my brother! However, I saw a simple and small mistake from you.'

By Allah, a brother described to me the following: "Someone came up to me and said: "I hate you for the Sake of Allah."

So, I said to him: "Why? Why do you hate me for the Sake of Allah?"

He replied: "Because your father is from the Ikhwan al-Muslimin.""

There is no might nor power except with Allah. What Islam is this? I hate him for the Sake of Allah - for what? Because his father is from the Ikhwan al-Muslimin. Sufficient is Allah as the Disposer of our affairs, and this person considers this to be commanding the good and forbidding the evil and a proclaimation of the truth, and he thinks that he will have some reward as a result of this, as a result of his putting off the Muslims..."

['Fi Dhilal Surat at-Tawbah'; p. 75]

POST #3 on various words of advice and stories of remembrance from sheik Abdullah Azzam.

Let Them Find Harshness In You:

"...And because of this, they said to Ibn Hajar al-Haythami: "Is it allowed for the Muslim to extend his hand when greeting a Christian, so that he could shake it?" He answered: "No, because the Christian will feel at peace when he is shaking your hand. So, it is not allowed for you to extend your hand for him to shake."

...It was narrated to me by the leader of the Islamic Movement in Jordan - our teacher, Muhammad 'Abd ar-Rahman Khalifah:

"I learned the meaning of honor from a story. When I was young, the judge of as-Salt (a town in Jordan) became ill. I was in my sixth year of elementary school, and I decided to go visit him. So, I went and rang the doorbell. He came to the door, and I said to him: "I am the son of 'Abd ar-Rahman Khalifah, and my father has sent me to come visit you." The judge said to me: "Please come in, my son."

So, I entered to find that the heads of the Christian community had all come to visit him because of his illness. There was the priest of the Orthodox Church, and the Latin Church. Anyway, these were two churches in as-Salt. When I entered the room - and I was only a young boy at the time - he said to the head pastor: "Get up and sit over there," and he said to me: "Come, my son, and sit next to me." He then looked to the pastor and said to him: "This is how my religion commands me to behave with you, so, if I come to visit you, then behave with me as your religion commands you."

Muhammad Khalifah then told me: "At that moment, I realized that the Muslim is noble, and that he is the most honorable of people.""

[From a lecture given in a camp on the Afghan-Pakistani border, October 29, 1987]

POST #2 on various words of advice and stories of remembrance from sheik Abdullah Azzam.

Give People the Credit They Are Due:

"And the labels fill your pockets. Every pocket is labelled with a characteristic or title; this pocket is filled with labels that say 'Disbeliever,' and everytime you see someone that you don't like, you hand him a label. Another pocket is filled with labels that say 'Innovator,' and a third pocket is filled the labels that say 'Poor,' and another says 'Ignorant,' etc. This way, you have given everyone a label from one of your labels...

There are families in Peshawar who cannot find enough Clorox bleach in the marketplaces, so, they send off to Islamabad to purchase this bleach, so that they can use it to clean their clothing and the clothing of their families. So, you are also in need of searching for bleach; you are in need of success in finding that which will clean your heart and purify your insides. If you are part of a particular Islamic group, then beware of assuming that all of the truth rests with that group, and that all falsehood rests with everyone else, as some of the earlier zealous people said: "All of our statements are correct, with a possibility of a mistake, while all the statements of others are mistaken, with a possibility of being correct." This is the destructive type of allegiance! How many groups have been torn apart, and how many people who were close to each other became divided because of such a mindset?!

Pay attention to your heart, beware of raising yourself above others, and beware of belittling others. How many of these people have given for the sake of this Religion - but have kept it secret between them and the Lord of the Worlds - from he whose statement is belittled and his appearance mocked, and he might even have given more for this Religion than an Earthful of people like you ever would? So, pay attention to yourself, and may Allah have Mercy on a man who knows his limits and stays inside those limits. The virtuous people are those who acknowledge the virtue of the people of virtue, especially the scholars, and especially those who are old in age, and especially the parents...

So, my brother, it is enough for your good deeds to be annulled that you look to your actions as if they are great, as Allah Said:

{"Woe to al-Mutaffifin! Those who, when they have to receive by measure from men, demand full measure, and when they have to give by measure or weight to men, give less than their due."} [al-Mutaffifin; 1-3]

So, if he mentions himself, he only mentions his good deeds, and if he mentions the others, he only mentions their mistakes, as the Prophet said: "One of you sees a small speck of dirt in the eye of his brother, but fails to see the large piece of dirt in his own eye." ['at-Targhib wat-Tarhib'; 3/236]...

Just because you are part of a particular group doesn't mean that you are better than the people. Just because you read a particular book doesn't mean that you are better than the people. There is some good with the Ikhwan, and there is some good with the Tabligh, and there is some good with the Salafiyyah; every one of them has a portion of the good, so, try - if you are able - to collect all of the good from these groups. They used to study from a large group of the scholars, so, his Hadith instructor is different from his Tafsir instructor , and his instructor in spiritual nurturing is different from his Arabic language instructor. Take from the Tabligh their manners...and imagine if we were to follow their path in respecting the people, and their manners with the scholars... The Tabligh have very good speech, as they convey what they say and work magic on the hearts with their manners, and cause any envy one might have against them to vanish. Take from the Ikhwan their historical movements and revolutionary ideas, and take from the Salafiyyah their beliefs. Collect within yourself all that is good, become a student, and do not restrict the truth to your own shaykh... Take from this person, and take from that person; respect the people, and give them the credit they are due, and put them in their proper categories..."

[From a khutbah entitled 'an-Nas Asnaf' (People Are of Various Types), given on September 26, 1986]

POST #1 on various words of advice and stories of remembrance from sheik Abdullah Azzam.

The Qur'an:

"So, it is upon you to tend to the Qur'an - the pillar of the heart, the light of the chest, the remover of sadness. And this time period is the period of memorization of the Qur'an. I started in and benefited greatly from the days of training in 1969 (when fighting in Palestine). I benefited greatly from the memorization of the Qur'an, and it was the period of golden purity of the heart and spirit. So, it is easy for you to memorize here; very easy...yes. I had a large-print Mushaf, and during the time in which I would stand guard at night, I would repeat what I had memorized during the day. So, if I mispronounced a word, I opened it, and I would read it using the light of the Moon. As for now, I cannot even see using the light of the Sun, so, we ask Allah to strengthen our eyesight...

So, try to memorize five verses of the Qur'an everyday, and start with 'al-Anfal.' Everyday, after the morning prayer, make for yourself a sitting with the Noble Qur'an. Memorize five verses of 'al-Anfal,' and review the five verses from the previous day. You can memorize it in fifteen days: seventy-five verses, five verses each day...this should be very easy on you...

Our brother, Khalid Qablan - who was martyred two days ago in Khost, Abu al-Walid, from Riyad - was martyred on Friday, at 2:30 p.m. I visited his brothers after his martyrdom, not knowing that he had been martyred, and everyone who was around him said that everything about him indicated that he was preparing for the Hereafter. They said that he would choose to stand guard from midnight to 1:00 a.m., then he would stay up in prayer until the Fajr. He would make the adhan for Fajr, then pray. After that, he would begin his adhkar. He would fast every Monday and Thursday - continuously - and the White Days (13th, 14th, 15th day of each month), and the six days of Shawwal. They also said that on the night before Friday - and it was the final night of his life - he stood guard from midnight to 1:00 a.m., stayed up in prayer until the Fajr, made the adhan for Fajr, prayed, made his morning adhkar, then we moved to the location of the battle for that day. On the way there, he recited 'al-Kahf,' and increased in his invoking of peace and blessings upon the Prophet. When we arrived - his companion from Yemen narrates - "I asked him if he had finished his recitation of 'al-Kahf,' and he said: "Yes." Then, we started firing the mortar rounds, and the nineteenth shell exploded inside the mortar, and many pieces of shrapnel entered his body. He gasped only twice, then he submitted his soul to the Lord of the Worlds.""

['Fi at-Tarbiyah al-Jihadiyyah wal-Bina''; 2/40-42]

tafsir note #1

And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: "Verily, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations on earth. '' They said: "Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You. '' He (Allah) said: "I know that which you do not know. ''
Qur’an 2:30

Adam and His Children inhabited the Earth, Generation after

Generation

Allah reiterated His favor on the Children of Adam when He stated that He mentioned them in the highest of heights before He created them.

Allah said:”And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels.”

This Ayah means, "O Muhammad! Mention to your people what Allah said to the angels,

“Verily, I am going to place a Khalifah on earth.”

Meaning people reproducing generation after generation, century after century, just as Allah said:

“And it is He Who has made you (Khala'if ) generations coming after generations, replacing each other on the earth” (6:165),

“And makes you (Khulafa') inheritors of the earth.” (27:62),

“And if it were Our will, We would have (destroyed you (mankind all, and) made angels to replace you (Yakhlufun) on the earth.” (43: 60) and,

“Then after them succeeded an (evil) generation (Khalf ).” (7:169).

It appears that Allah was not referring to Adam specifically as Khalifah, otherwise he would not have allowed the angels’ statement “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood”

The angels meant that this type of creature usually commits the atrocities they mentioned, The angels knew of this fact, according to their understanding of human nature, for Allah stated that He would create man from clay. Or, the angels understood this fact from the word Khalifah, which also means the person who judges disputes that occur between people, forbidding them from injustice and sin, as Al-Qurtubi said

“The statement the angels uttered was not a form of disputing with Allah's, nor out of envy for the Children of Adam, as some mistakenly thought . Allah has described them as those who do not precede Him in speaking, meaning that they do not ask Allah anything without His permission. When Allah informed them that He was going to create a creation on the earth, and they had knowledge that this creation would commit mischief on it as Qatadah mentioned,

they said, “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood”

This is only a quest ion for the sake of learning about the wisdom of that, as if they said, Our Lord! What is the wisdom of creating such creatures since they will cause trouble in the earth and spill blood "If the wisdom behind this act ion is that You  be worshipped, we praise and glorify You (meaning we pray to You) we never indulge in mischief, so why create other creatures''

Allah said to the angels in answer to their inquiry,

“I know that which you do not know.” meaning, "I know that the benefit of creating this type of creature outweighs the harm that you mentioned, that which you have no knowledge of. I will create among them Prophets and send Messengers. I will also create among them truthful, martyrs, righteous believers, worshippers, the modest, the pious, the scholars who implement their knowledge, humble people and those who love Allah and follow His Messengers. ''

The Sahih recorded that when the angels ascend to Allah with the records of the servants deeds, Allah asks them, while having better knowledge, "How did you leave my servants'' They will say, "We came to them while they were praying and left them while they were praying.'' This is because the angels work in shifts with mankind, and they change shifts during the Fajr and ‘Asr prayers. The angels who descended will remain with us, while the angels who have remained with us ascend with our deeds.

The Messenger of Allah said,

“The deeds of the night are elevated to Allah before the morning and the deeds of the morning before the night falls.”

Hence, the angels' statement, "We came to them while they were praying and left them while they were praying, '' explains Allah's statement, “I know that which you do not know.”

It was said that the meaning of Allah's statement,(I know that which you do not know.) is "I have a specific wisdom in creating them, which you do not have knowledge of .'' It was also said that it is in answer to,(While we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You) after which Allah said,“I know that which you do not know.” Meaning, "I know that Iblis is not as you are, although he is among you.''

Others said,
"Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify you with praises and thanks and sanctify You.” is their request that they should be allowed to inhabit the earth, instead of the Children of Adam. So Allah said to them, (I know that which you do not know) if your inhabiting the heavens is better, or worse for you. ''

Ar-Razi as w
ell as others said this. Allah knows best.

THE OBLIGATION OF APPOINTING  A KHALIFAH AND SOME RELATED ISSUES

Al-Qurtubi, as well as other scholars, said that this Ayah (2:30) proves the obligation of appointing a Khalifah to pass judgments on matters of dispute between people, to aid the oppressed against the oppressor, to implement the Islamic penal code and to forbid evil. There are many other tasks that can only be fulfilled by appointing the Imam, and what is necessary in performing an obligation, is an obligation itself.
We should state here that Imamah occurs by either naming a successor, as a group among Ahl As-Sunnah scholars said occurred - by the Prophet - in the case of Abu Bakr, or hinting to a successor. Or, the current Khalifah names a certain person as Khalifah after him, as Abu Bakr did with ` Umar. Or, the Khalifah might leave the matter in the hands of the Muslim consultative council, or a group of righteous men, j ust as` Umar did. Or, the people of authority could gather around a certain person to whom they give the pledge of allegiance, or they could select one among them to choose the candidate, according to the majority of the scholars.

The Khalifah must be a responsible adult Muslim male, able to perform Ijtihad (independent legal judgments), bodily able, righteous, with knowledge of warfare, politics. He also must be from the tribe of Quraysh, according to the correct view, but it is not necessary that he be from the tribe of Bani Hashim, or that he be immune from error, as the Raf idah (Shiites) falsely claim.

When the Khalifah becomes an immoral person (Fasiq), should he be impeached there is disagreement over this matter, but the correct view is that he is not to be removed, because the Messenger of Allah said,

“Unless you witness a clear Kufr regarding which you have clear proof from Allah.”

Does the Khalifah have the right to resign from his post there is a difference on this issue. It is a fact that Al-Hasan bin ` Ali removed himself from the posit ion of Khalifah and surrendered it to Mu` awiyah. However, this occurred because of a necessity, and Al-Hasan was praised for this action. It is not permissible to appoint two Imams for the world or more at the same time. This is not allowed because the Messenger of Allah said, ”Whoever came to you while you are united and tried to divide you, then execute him, no matter who he is.”

This is the view of the majority of scholars. Imam Al-Haramayn stated that Abu Ishaq allowed the appointment of two or more Imams when the various provinces are far away from each other. However, Imam Al-Haramayn himself was indecisive about this view.

and Allah swt knows best.