The Sultan of the ‘Ulem al’Iz al-Din ‘Abdu al-Salam wrote:
“The way to Allah is made up of the apparent and the inner. Its apparent path is Shari’ah and its actualization is the inner. Two words bring both the apparent and the inner together: “It is You alone we worship and it is You alone we beseech for assistance.” “It is you Alone we worship” is the Shar’iah and “It is You alone we beseech for help” is the inner.”
From Miftah al-Kunuz
Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.
From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.
Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.
subhanAllah, you know what is amazing? The Qur’an and how it raises people; the Qur’an is such an intense tool to build people, shape people, mold people… Allahu Akbar!
I was thinking about high school and how I got through all that, by Allah’s great Mercy upon me, and then I thought about the Qur’an. It wasn’t until I started reading the Qur’an- attaching myself [by Allah’s Mercy] to reading the translation so that I understood it (man it’s deep!) and then falling in love with hearing its recitation…walking through school with headphones on which no one could see because it was under my hijab… hearing Abdul Basit rahimahullah recite the last verses of surah Hashr with Allah’s Beautiful Names subhanahu wa ta’ala, and shaykh Ajmy’s recitation of surah Raad, and shaykh Sudais’s recitation of surah al Kahf… just remembering those times brings sweetness back to my heart, walHamdullahiRabil’alameen. AlHamdullilah, it was worth the struggle. TRULY ALLAH guides from the dholomaat [darknessES] to the [one] Noor.
it’s such a struggle sometimes -a lot of times- to be a young Muslim in America– and parents ask me, what helped you get through all that?? parents sometimes lament the situation of their children– may Allah help our youth!- and it’s like—well, parents, do YOU read the Qur’an and try to at least read a translation so you understand it? do you help them love it and help them want to establish a strong relationship with it? how can we cry over our children when we don’t make the commitment ourselves?
All of this I feel…subhanAllah, our struggles, our anxiety, our desperate attempts to fix ourselves after we have fallen- again- our struggle to keep straight despite the pressure around us…to keep up with our prayers despite the workplace, the house conditions, being on campus…what could sum it up better than “Iyyakan’abodo wa iyyakannastaeen’ … “It is You alone we worship and it is You alone we beseech for assistance.”
Who better to reveal for us ONE verse which sums up our ENTIRE LIVES than the Rabul’alameen? Well, not only Who better, who else? No ONE else! That ONE VERSE is proof of ALLAH’s Existence and proof that only ALLAH deserves our worship!
we ask Allah to keep us sincere and firm on the siratal mustaqeem, and help us develop a sincere relationship with His Words subhanahu wa ta’ala.
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SubhanAllah…
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