Leadership from Quran

Prophets character as Leader

Your mission

Who are You

Your Qualities

Your Responsibility

Best among You

Dua and invocations

DUA FOR BLESSED DESTINATION

DUA FOR NIGHT OF DECREE

DUA FOR KNOWLEDGE

DUA FOR PARENTS

DUA FOR GUIDANCE AND PIETY

DUA FOR HOME IN PARADISE

DUA WHEN LEAVING HOME

DUA FOR SEEKING FORGIVENESS

DUA FOR SOMEONE AFFLICTED WITH MISFORTUNE

DUA AFTER EATING

DUA AGAINST EVIL EYE

DUA FOR ANGUISH

DUA FOR OFFSPRING

DUA FOR ENTERING MARKET

DUA FOR FEAR OF SHIRK

FOILING OF MAGIC

GETTING DRESSED

DUA FOR GUIDANCE

INCREASING PROVISION

WELL BEING HERE AND HEREAFTER

DUA FOR ANGUISH

DUA AFFARATUL MAJLIS

DUA FOR CONCEALING FAULT AND PROTECTION FROM ENEMY

DUA FOR PUTTING NEW CLOTHS

DUA FOR SAFETY FROM EVIL DESTINY

DUA FOR SAFETY FROM EVIL WHISPERS OF SHAITAN

DUA FOR REFUGE FROM DISEASE

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DUA FOR SETTING OF DEBT

DUA FOR SETTING OF A DEBT

DUA FOR SNEEZING

DUA WHEN SOMETHING BECOMES DIFFICULT

DUA FOR SOUNDNESS OF BODY

DUA FOR TRAVELLING

DUA FOR GUIDANCE

DUA FOR VISITING ILL

DUA FOR VISITING SICK

DUA WHEN WE DESCEND

DUA WHEN WE ASCEND

Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyyah

Ibn Qayyim AI•Jawziyyah (691-751 AH.) 
"Through patience and poverty one attains leadership in religion. The seeker of Truth needs the will that will inspire him and push him upward and (religious) knowledge that will lead him and guide him." These words of Ibn Qayyim AI-Jawziyyah sum up the personality of this great man, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, who is better known as Ibn Qayyim AI-Jawziyyah or Ibn AI-Qayyim, for short.
He was born in 691 A.H. He began his long journey on the road of learning early in his life, moving from one teacher to another to quench his thirst for knowledge. At the age of 21 (in 712 A.H.) Ibn AI-Qayyim met his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah another great hero of Islam and a revivalist of the faith. Their companionship lasted to the end of the teacher's life, Ibn AI•Qayyim kept close company to Ibn Taymiyyah with whom he suffered the pains of prison and flogging many a time. Apparently, it was from Ibn Taymiyyah that he learnt many special qualities such as frankness and courage, in defiance of the falsehood of others, including those in authority. For to both truth had to be said regardless of the consequences. But unlike his teacher, or Ibn AI•Qayyim was less fierce in his attacks (in words or action).
The 8th century' Hijra witnessed a state of ignorance and feuds in the Muslim community. Muslims were fighting each other and each trying to impose his authority in everything including religious opinion and scholarship which suffered from stagnation. For the majority of religious scholars acted more like 'recorders' of knowledge rather than true scholars and teachers. To them their teachers were the main. If not the sale, source of knowledge, and the schools of thought they blindly imitated were the only acceptable ways. Like his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn AI•Qayyim spent his life in attempting to correct the wrong course the community was following. He fought the exaggerated reverence for the tombs of the pious despite the strong resistance he met with from the masses. He tried to show the errors committed by the misled sects and their blind followers. For he considered that the disputes and fights among the Muslims of his time were caused by their sectarian attitude and chauvinistic practices, each one considering himself and his sector school of thought the only right one, and claiming that everyone else was on the wrong path.. Ibn AI•Qayyim spent most of his time and great efforts trying to unite the people, pointing out to them the dangers of blind imitation of the predecessors.
 He explained that a Muslim should be open-minded; that is, he should accept what is right and good regardless of the teacher as long as what he or she accepts is consistent with the Quran and the Sunnah and the consensus of the scholars and the general spirit of the faith. To him imitation was wrong in the following cases: 1) if it entails violation of Divine teachings, 2) if it represents an act of blind following of people we are not sure of their knowledge. 3) If it is in defiance of truth after finding it. It was blind imitation that caused stagnation in scholar• ship and differences among people. Some so-called scholars, he pointed out, were not really scholars of Islam but rather simple propagators of others' opinions. To those people the words and views of their teachers or leaders were the only correct way of understanding the faith to the extent that they subjected even the interpretation if the Quran and the Prophetic teachings to the views of their teachers, which they wrongly took for the ultimate criteria.
 Ibn AI-Qayyim considered that the sources of religious knowledge were to be taken in the following order: 1) The Our'an, 2) The Sunnah (Prophet Muhammad's teachings) and 3} The teachings of the companions of the Prophet. To these one could add consensus of Muslim scholars and analogy. Bigotry and prejudice were to him the enemies of learning. To propagate his views, Ibn AI•Qayyim wrote scores of books besides direct teaching. In his own private life Ibn AL-Qayyim was a very pious and devout worshipper who spent most of his time in prayers and recitation of the Our'an. He was, in fact, an ascetic who rejected the unorthodox practices of some sufis (mystics) who claimed that religious teachings had external and internal sides, meaning that religious obligations (such as prayers, fasting during Ramadan etc. etc.) did not apply to them . As pointed out earlier Ibn AI•Qayyim was a man of courage and frankness to whom truth was the ultimate goal. His open-minded and flexible attitude is reflected in his views on the correct understanding of religious laws (Shairah), and that these should be interpreted in the light of the circumstances of time and place, because Islam is intended and practicable for all mankind at all times. He wrote many books to explain this invaluable principle. Many of his views find their application in the legal system of modern nations more than six centuries after his death in 751 A.H.'

SHAIKHUL•ISLAM IMAM AHMAD IBN TAYMIVYAH

SHAIKHUL·ISLAM IMAM AHMAD IBN TAYMIVYAHRevivalist of Islam (661-728 A,H,) We are a people who love goodness for everyone. We like to see Allah bringing you the best of this world and that of the Hereafter. For the best way to worship Allah is by giving counsel and advice to his creatures. This was the purpose of all the Prophets and Messengers from Allah. And there is nothing better than advice in matters of the relation between man and his Creator. Man is certainly destined to meet with his Lord, and he is going to be questioned about his duties. All the Christians know that when He talked to the Tartars concerning the captives in their lands, Ghazan and Katloushah released them. I talked to the king about those captives, and he allowed the release of the Muslims only and said to me. We have some Christians that we captured in Jerusalem, These we are not going to release.' I told him, 'But you release all the Jewish and Christian captives because they are under the protection of Islam. And we will leave no captive be he a Muslim or Christian.' Thus, we caused the release of many Christians from captivity. This Ibn Taymmiyah did only for the sake of Allah whose rewards everyone seek. "Besides, everyone knows about the Christian captives in our hands and how kindly and charitably we treat them in accordance with the teachings of the last of the Prophets (Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). The above mentioned words are quotations from a letter written by Ibn Taymiwah, to King $irjwan of Cyprus in which he tried to explain the basic tenets of the Islamic Faith to a Christian ruler. But who was Ibn Taymiyyah? Ibn Taymiyyah, who is known by the title of Sheikh Ul Islam ('The eminent Scholar of Islam') is one of the leading thinkers of Islam and a revivalist of its pristine teachings at a time when the Muslim world was going through one of its darkest times, being under attack by the ruthless Mongol Tartars from the East (who destroyed everything and everyone who stood in their torrential flow from Central Asia) and the fierce Crusaders from the West. Hundreds of thousands of books were thrown by the Tartars into the Rivers of Tigris and Euphrates until the waters of these rivers became black with the ink in those books. On the cultural scene many Muslim scholars were busy summarizing and explaining the works of their predecessors with hardly any worthwhile contribution . In religion, again many unorthodox ideas had crept in from un-Islamic philosophies and foreign thoughts. The theologians were plagued by the ideas of the Mu'tazilites and other misguided sects. The jurists were at a standstill in the understanding and application of the legal spirit of Islam, blindly imitating the opinions of their predecessors. The masses were thus left in total darkness, misguided by agnostic Sufism and their practices, such as exaggeration in revering tombs of the pious and the Saints to the extent of almost worshipping them besides Allah. It was in those circumstances that Ibn Taymiyyah was born. Ibn Taymiyyah was born in 661 A.H . (1263 G.) in Harran (near Damascus). His family was a people of learning and teaching, both its male and female members being well known for their contribution to religious education. Since his childhood Ibn Taymiyyah was known for his great intelligence, strong memory and insatiable thirst for learning. No wonder then that he started research and writing at the age of nineteen. At the age of 21 his father died, and he replaced him in the post of teaching Fiqh (Islamic law or jurisprudence) and Tafseer (Quranic exegesis or commentaries). When he announced in 696 A.H. his views on certain theological issues, some theologians (whose understanding was contaminated by foreign philosophical ideas) started annoying him. Ibn Taymiyyah's views on the Divine Attributes enraged Some theologians who had him called to court in Egypt and imprisoned there. It seems that his courage and frankness in attacking unorthodox interpretations of Islamic teachings in areas of theology, jurisprudence and spirituality caused many problems for him. For Ibn Taymiyyah made it his job to correct the wrong views prevalent at his time despite the fierce resistance he met with from many religious scholars. He felt it his duty to unify the Muslims around orthodox and pristine Islamic teachings, of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah by fighting against polytheists and innovations in religion (bid'ah) and purifying the religion from interpretations and practices alien to it, taking only the Qur'an and Sunnah or Prophetic traditions as the only infallible sources. Ibn Taymiyyah suffered a great deal because of this, but he never hesitated or faltered. History tells us that the enemies of Ibn Taymmiyah not only caused the authorities to imprison him on many occasions but also they even tried to have him killed by reporting to Sultan an-Nasser faking that Ibn Taymiyyah was using the masses' love and admiration for him to usurp the throne. An-Nasser Lideeni-Liah ordered that he be brought to him. He told him, "I have been told that people listen to you, and that you are seeking my kingdom. Ibn Taymmiyyah answered. "I do that? By Allah your kingdom and the kingdoms of all the Moguls are not worth a single penny to me." The Sultan was impressed by our hero's answer and was convinced of the falsehood of the allegation. But intelligence, Knowledge, courage and frankness were not the only things for which he known. He was also known for his otherworldliness and unlimited generous to the extent that he would give the clothes he had on to a needy person. Ibn Taymiyyah was not only an active teacher, but he was also a prolific writer of encyclopedic knowledge as well. So when he died in 728 A.H. (at the age of 67). He left scores of volumes of writings on various topics including comparative religion. One of his masterpieces is well known, namely "Fatawa·lbn Taymiyyah, (The religious Rulings and verdicts of Ibn Taymiyyah) which has been published in 36 volumes, several times. Ibn Tamiyyah is reported to have said, 'The (real) prisoner is the one whose heart has been kept away from remembering his Lord, and the (real) captive is the one who has been captivated by his whims and desires." His disciple Ibnul·Oayyim, reports (that he (i.e. Ibn Taymiyyahl used to say, when he was imprisoned in AI Qalah Prison in Damascus, "What on earth can my enemies do to me? My Paradise is in my heart and accompanies me wherever I go. My imprisonment is (in fact) seclusion (which helps me worship Allah better) my killing is (in fact) martyrdom and my deportation from my country is (in fact) seeing (the world.”

How to Improve and Correct People's Mistakes

Look at the Prophet's approach in this regard. One day he decided to advise 'Abdullah bin 'Umar to pray the night prayers.

He did not call him and say,"0 'Abdullah, pray the night prayer!" Rather, he advised him as if he was making a suggestion saying, "How nice is 'Abdullah! If only he were to pray the night prayers also!" In another narration he said,"0 'Abdullah, do not be like so-and-so. He used to pray at night, but then he left it."

In fact, if you are able to bring his mistake to his attention without him realising, then this is the best approach. A man sneezed in the company of 'Abdullah bin al-Mubarak but did not say:'al-Hamdulillah'. So 'Abdullah bin al-Mubarak said, "What does a person say when he sneezes?",

He said, "al-Hamdulillah,'

'Abdullah bin al-Mubarak said, "YarhamukAllah" (May Allah have mercy on you).

The Prophet Peace Be Upon Him had a similar approach. When he would conclude his 'Asr prayer, he would visit his wives one-by-one to sit and talk with them. Once he visited Zaynab bint Jahsh and found honey with her. The Prophet Peace Be Upon Him used to love honey and other sweets. He began to drink honey and talk to her, and ended up staying with her for longer than he would stay with anyone else.

Thereupon, 'A'ishah and Hafsah became jealous and planned that whoever of the two the Prophet visits should say, "I find that you smell of Maghafir!" Maghafir is a sweet drink, similar to honey but has an unpleasant smell. The Prophet Peace Be upon Him was always concerned that his body or mouth did not smell bad, as he used to speak with Jibril and the people. When he visited Hafsah she asked him what he had eaten.

He said, '" had some honey to drink when I visited Zaynab."

She said, "I find the smell of Maghafir on you!"

He said, "No. I only had some honey to drink. But I won't drink it, again."

He then went to 'A'ishah and she said the same to him. Days went by and Allah finally revealed the secret to the Prophet Peace Be upon Him, after a few days, the Prophet Peace Be upon Him informed Hafsah of a matter in confidence but she betrayed the confidentiality. He visited her one day whilst she had a guest known as ash-Shifa' bint 'Abdullah. She was a female Companion and a medical student who used to treat patients.

The Prophet Peace Be upon Him wanted to bring her attention to her mistake by approaching the issue indirectly, in order to be gentle with her. What did he do?

He said to ash-Shifa',"Wouldn't you teach her the 'incantation of the ants the way you taught her to write?"

The 'incantation of the ants' is what Arab women used to repeat, and everyone knew that it neither harms nor benefits.

The incantation as known amongst the women was composed of the following:

"The bride celebrates, dyes, applies kohl and does everything else, except that she does not disobey her husband"

The Prophet Peace Be upon Him wanted to indirectly to teach Hafsah a lesson by repeating," ...except that she does not disobey her husband:'

How beautiful is this approach towards correcting others' mistakes that leaves love intact in people's hearts, unshaken by errors and unpolluted by excessive offers of advice!

It is possible to drink honey without destroying the honeycomb. Do not advise a person as if he has disbelieved due to his actions! Rather, have good thoughts about him and assume that he made a mistake unintentionally, or without knowing.

"Even a good word is charity," Hadith.