Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali On Bringing The Heart To Presence During Prayer
The great Hanbali scholar of the 7th century hijri mentions in his work titled Al-Kusoo’a fi Al-Salah a priceless gem of advice:
It is obligatory on any one intending to pray, to free his heart – according to his best ability- from those worldly things that occupy him and whatever is related to those things before entering the prayer. When a matter becomes important to you, your heart automatically becomes engaged in it automatically. There is no cure to remove ones heart from such [worldly] matters except by turning ones attention towards the importance of the prayer. The level of turning one’s attention [towards prayer] varies according to the strength and weakness of one’s faith in the hereafter, and their level of disdain for worldly life.
Thus, whenever you see that your heart is not present in prayer, then know that the reason is due to weakness in faith [Iman] and so it is obligatory on you to strive towards reviving it.
Translated by Abdus Shakur Brooks
Moderate Muslims not Newsworthy
Whether you call it Islamophobia or just plain reporting, Muslims are in the news and except for 20-second sound-bites from a local Eid celebration, it's not good.
There's the persistent and popular debate on the hijab and Muslim women in general. There are wars waged or threatened in Muslim countries such as Iraq and Iran and, most importantly, there are stories reporting atrocities committed by nominal Muslims.
When this last happens, Muslims, like everyone else, cry for the victims, feel anger toward the ones who committed the act and pray for justice to be served.
Ashari Aqueeda (Belief)
The following is a defence of the Ash'ari school by one of the foremost scholars of Hadith and Fiqh in Makkah at the moment - Shaikh Sayyid Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki al-Makki.
Shaykh Muhammad 'Alawi Maliki: "Many sons/daughters of Muslims are ignorant of the Ash'ari School, whom it represents, and its positions on the tenets of the Islamic faith (aqidah), and yet some of them are not God-fearing enough to refrain from accusing it of deviance, departure from the religion of Islam, and heresy about the attributes of Allah. The ignorance of the Ash'ari school is a cause of rendering the unity of the Ahl al-Sunnah dispersing its ranks. Some have gone as far as to consider the Ash'aris among the categories of heretical sects, though it is beyond me how believers can be linked with misbelievers, or how Sunni Muslims can be considered equal with the most extreme faction of the Mu'tazilites, the Jahmites.
"Shall We deal with Muslims as We do criminals? How is it that you judge?" [Qur'an 68:35-36]