Hello! Assalamualaikum so basically this is where I will be writing the lessons or my notes for Usrah. Since this is the first week, Sister Husna lead the class by introducing herself and then proceeded to the ice-breaking session. All of us introduced ourselves and then shared a bit of some personal information like which mahallah we are staying at and just got to know each other.
Sister Husna then went over what we'll be learning in class, and how we can do our assignments and assured us that it won't be difficult as long as we stay up to date and paid attention in class.
From this week's topic which is Adab in learning knowledge, I have gathered that there are different aspects of adab when learning. For instance, there's an outward mannerism and outward mannerism when seeking knowledge.
Outward mannerism would be what an individual can do physically or act to gain knowledge and enrich themselves with information for the benefit of themselves and mankind. What can they do to improve? how can they memorize or remember important information? what are the tricks or tips that could ease them in learning about a particular topic or concept?
Whereas inward mannerism is more on our intention or purpose of learning. Do we seek knowledge in the name of Allah swt and to fulfill our duties as a Muslim and a functioning member of society or do we seek knowledge to gain power, wealth and material goods?
" Whoever follows a path to seek knowledge therein, God will make easy for him a path to paradise "
( Muslim Hadith Collection )
" If anyone acquires knowledge of things which are pleasing to God, but acquires it only to ger some worldly advantage he will not experience the scent of Paradise "
( Abu Dawud Hadith Collection )
Basically from what I understand, it is important to remember and remind ourselves of our intentions on improving and bettering ourselves and not because we are greedy for worldly values. One of the many ways we could humble ourselves and use as a reminder that there's more to life than the things we greed about is by reading the Quran.
The Quran was given as a guidance book for muslims and in it we should seek and refer to guidance in terms of our daily lives.
The contents of the Quran covers every aspect of life and is free from any inconsistencies and contradictions. Even through time, the Quran remains valid and its contents were proven scientifically correct hence we as muslims should recite it and learn to understand the meaning of the Quran in order to further understand and get closer to our creator.
Hello! so basically the topic for this week's class was Hadith Of Jibril.
To summarize it simply, the Angel Jibril had asked Muhammad saw a few questions in the presence of others with the intention of sharing knowledge and wisdom.
It was described by Umar Ibnul Khattab ra that as they were sitting by Rasulullah saw, a man dressed in pure white, his hair in pitch black and no signs of travel at all on him appeared before them. He sat by Rasulullah saw and asked the prophet about Islam and after hearing the prophet's answer, the man attested that the answer is true. He then asked Rasulullah saw another question about Imaan, and again he also acknowledged what the prophet said was indeed correct. Then he asked about Ihsan and then went away.
When the man left, Rasulullah saw's companions asked him about the identity of the man and Rasulullah replied with
" that was Jibril. He came to teach you your religion "
( Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim )
I am oddly very particularly fond of this story. Something about the deliverance of the knowledge from the Angel Jibril was very delicate. The Angel simply asked questions, heard the answer, and then would ask another question as if to emphasize of remind the people around there to pay attention and understand the concept of Islam better.
In this week's of usrah, the talk was about belief in Allah swt, the angels and the Quran.
Shahadah means " there is no god but Allah swt " which us, muslims believe wholeheartedly.
Islam is referred to as the original religion of all mankind and even the universe itself. The Quran refers to Allah swt as the Lord of the Worlds. Allah swt is also the Master of the Day of Judgment when the good, especially believers will be sent to their heavenly reward and the wicked, especially the unbelievers will be dispatched to hellfire.
Moving on to the angels or Malaikah, it is believed that the angels were created before humans with the purpose of following the orders of Allah swt and communicating with humans. Muslims believe that angle like all other creatures were created by God. In islamic belief, angels communicate messages from Allah to humanity.
" The Massenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord and so have the believers. All of them have believed in Allah swt and his angels and his books and his messengers " we make no distinction between any of his messengers " and they say " we hear and obey ( we seek ) your forgiveness, our Lord, and to you is the final destination. "
( The Qur'an 2:285 )
The angels are said to have qualities such as:
They are are made from light
They have no free will
They tell Allah swt about the behaviour of humans
They are limitless
They are invisible however, they may reveal themselves to humans on special occassions. An example is when the Angel Jibril revealed himself himself to the Phrophet Muhammad saw.
The three keys in believing in the Quran are:
1) Tauhid - the belief that God is one, almighty and unique
2) Divine justice (Adalat) - God will judge everyone on the day of the Judgment
3) The Prophets (nubuwwah) who should be respected, especially Muhammad saw
Continuing last week's train of lessons, this week was all about the belief in the messengers and the prophets, the belief in Qiyammah (the resurrection day), and last but not least the belief in Qada and Qadr.
As we all know and were taught, the belief in the messengers and the prophets is God's guidance revealed to humankind to specially appointed messengers or prophets throughout history beginning with the first man, Adam who is considered the first prophet. Twenty-five of these appointed messengers or prophets are mentioned by name in the Quran including Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Muslims believe that Muhammad saw is the last line of prophets sent for all humankind with the message of islam.
Talking about Belief in the day of judgment, it is the day that humans will be judged for their actions in this life and those who followed God's guidance will be rewarded with paradise and those who rejected God's guidance will be punished with.
And last but not least, is the belief in Qada and Qadr. Qada is His creation of things and events when their time is due based on His pre-eternal knowledfe and ordaining meanwhile Qadr is Allah swt's knowing of everything in pre-eternity, what happened and what what will happen whether good or bad from pre-eternity to past eternity, their time, place and characteristics and His ordaining and determining them.
I believe it has been a good revision for us to relearn and remind ourselves about the rukun iman for the past few usrah classes. It can be hard to keep balance of our ibadah with our busy daily lives but a small reminder such as this has humbled me and made me improve by creating time to read the Quran and worship Allah swt.
Now this is a new thing that I've been introduced to. So eschatology is the branch of Christian theology with the biblical study of end-times prophecies and the events of the last days. Some of these events include the Rapture, the second coming out of Christ, the tribulation, the millennial Kingdom and the Future Judgments. The primary books of the Bible pertaining to end times prophecy are the book of Daniel, the book of Ezekiel, and the book of revelation.
So to put it simply it is the Christian's version of the day of resurrection. It could also be an interpretation of the human condition in relation to the realm of the sacred and the profane as defined in nontemporal terms and stories, the latter in temporal terms and stories.
Next is Ihsan or excellence roughly means for us to do our best in Islam. The prophet Rasulullah saw once said " Worship Allah swt as if you can see him and prepare yourself for death " as well as " O Allah, help me to remember you, to give thanks to you, and to worship you in the best manner "
From my perspective, it would mean for us to do our best and seek guidance from Allah and trust in his plan even in the worst of times. Islam is a religion that teaches us discipline and teaches us to do good deeds such as praying 5 times a day, fasting, donating and encouraged to do charity. It is such teachings that we must practice to the best of our capabilities consistently.
This week sister Husna shared a video about manners the students are supposed to have in classes especially mannerisms of online classes due to the current circumstances of the state of the world.
There's no doubt that a lot of students have had trouble in adapting to online learning. Especially those who aren't as fortunate as other in terms of having privacy, space or equipments for hybrid learning. But for those who are lucky enough to be able to continue their studies through online sessions, some things can be taken for granted such as sleeping during class, turning your meeting room open and then do other stuff, not giving enough cooperation to the lecturers and cheating during online quizzes.
As students we must remember to respect the educator and give full cooperation. As the saying ' it takes two to tango ' both the educator and students must put in extra effort to make amends for all the technical difficulties, communication problems and other inconvenience that can intefere with the flow of the class.
All in all it is important to respect and have common sense in things you should do such as always have your camera on during online classes so your educator won't feel as if they're talking to a blank screen or make sure you have your phone on silent and is at an appropriate environmet.
Mother nature or Earth as we call it has been taken for granted by everyone. We have failed to appreciate the beauty of nature and protect it from destruction as everyday with every hour that passes, a tree somewhere is being cut down.
Over the years, it has become apparent that the state of our mother nature has rapidly declined at a very concerning rate. Though many people are aware of this issue, the majority of mankind still hasn’t shown a strong resolve in curing and healing our mother nature to its natural state.
According to Islam, the utilization of natural resources is a sacred trust invested in mankind hence we should appreciate nature’s beauty and handle it in a way that realizes the worship of Allah SWT. As humans, we depend on the resources nature can provide for us. It all has to begin with research, interest, and effort. A fisherman in Japan named Masaru would often post videos of him fishing and cooking on YouTube and there was one video where when he cleaned out the fish’s stomach, and he found the cap of a water bottle. That itself is proof that plastic or rubbish, in general, is dangerous for animals and nature since plastic, in particular, takes a very long time to decompose, the litter of plastics would cause harm and damage to its surroundings.
All in all, usrah has been good for me as it becomes a reminder for all the information and knowledge that i have forgotten or taken lightly. It also gives me the opportunity learn and know more or deeper about certain topics which is beneficial and vital to my improvement as a human being and as. muslim.
Sincerely I hope that I'll have the opportunity to continue to grow and imprve myself since there's always something we could do to better ourselves for Allah swt.
Also i would like to thank sister Husna for being so understanding, patient and flexible during class. She has been very kind and tried her absolute best during the sessions and I truly appreciate that. She has my best wishes and thanks for being so kind and generous in her knowledge and her sharing of information with us.