Editorial
Asim
Photo by Adrian Siodlak
In a hadith of Tirmidhi, the Prophet a said, “The
head of this deen is Islam, its pillar is salat, and its summit
is struggling in the path of Allah.” Then, he continues.
“Should I not tell you that which secures all these?”
The Prophet a held his tongue and said, “Control
this” (Tirmidhi). Meaning, that the tongue is like a key that
safeguards all your possessions in a house or, in the hands
of the wrong person, destroys them completely. If the
tongue is controlled, the good deeds are saved, otherwise
the tongue burns everything to the ground. Sometimes,
we lead religious lives while our faith is being sabotaged
by the things we say and the backbiting we do of others.
In our Spiritual Discourses section, Mufti Taqi Uthmani explains
the dangers of backbiting and how to reform the
tongue.
What separates mankind from the rest of creation
is the distinctive ability of man to recognize right from
wrong, good from bad, and haqq from batil. But even
greater is the free will that we have been granted to choose
our paths and be discreet about our choices in life. We are
tested in this dar al-imtihan (world of tests and tribulations)
because of this free will and the decisions we make based on
that free will, which determine our final abode in the Hereafter.
M. Dawud Alcox in his article Forced to Choose explains
the power of free will and the ‘aql and its decisive function
in helping us find our way to Allah.
In the Formative Years, M. Dr. Mateen recounts the
poignant years of the Prophet’s a seerah when he lost his
mother at the age of 6 and then his beloved grandfather
shortly thereafter. Throughout this difficult period, Baraka
(Umm Ayman j) became a second mother to the Prophet a
while Allah fostered in him complete reliance on Allah and
prepared him for nubuwwat.
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