Notes from Sister's circle...

Our last sister's circle was conducted in Arabic. Its great for our language skills (and an ego booster when we find we can understand most of it!)

We looked at a hadith from our 6th Imam who says that there are 8 characteristics of a believer:

1. They are firm in times of tremor (that means anything that knocks you from your day to day routines - a death, accident etc)

2. They are patient in times of hardship

3. They are grateful in times of ease

4. They are satisfied by what God has given them

5. They don't oppress their enemies

6. They don't oppress their friends and forgive them easily

7. Their body is always tired

8. People are always at ease around them.

We discussed each of the points - some of them are quite obvious, but I'll expand on a few of them:

(4) It's human nature to look at people and only see their faults. For example, you see that your friend's husband does x y &z around the house and so you fault your husband for not doing the same, forgetting that he does a b &c.
If you think of everyone as a glass - half of us is filled with good qualities and half with bad qualities. So we need to start looking at the good half.

(7) This one was a bit puzzling - because we straight away thought it meant that the body should be tired with worship. But actually it means that the believer shouldn't rely on other people to do their work (unless of course they need help), but rather try and do as much as they can themselves. I guess its all about setting the right expectations of other people and realising that no one 'owes' you anything.

Story from a previous class

Once, a companion of the 6th Imam was out in the bazaar. He started talking nonsense to a baker and in the confusion, managed to steal 2 loaves of bread from him. He walked a little further and started talking nonsense to a fruit seller and again managed to steal 2 pomegranates from him.

The companion then found a poor family and gave them the fruit and bread to eat.

He was feeling quite good about himself and when he next met the 6th Imam, he informed him of what he had done.

The Imam asked him why he had used stolen goods in order to do a good deed. The companion replied that he had heard the Imam once say that each good deed is worth 10 in the eyes of God and each bad deed is worth 1. So by giving 4 things to a poor family is equal to 40 good deeds and stealing for things is minus 4 - so he ends up with a net of 36 good deeds.

Imam retorted: ' Don't obey Allah with disobedience, but rather obey Him by staying away from Haraam'.

i.e. The ends don't justify the means.

Tajweed Quiz for you all!

What is special about the following sentence???

(Those of you studying Tajweed should get this one!)

صراط علي حق نمسكه

(I havn't figured out how to type shadda's yet, but there should be a shadda on the yaa!

Lessons from Sayyidda Fatemah - some points from our last sister's circle

Our fortnightly wednesday sisters' circles have now become weekly! They're a great opportunity to catch up with each other and learn something too!

At the end of the last session, we looked at some lessons from the life of Sayyidda Fatemah, daughter of the Holy Prophet:
1. She never spoke anything unless it was the truth
2. She never mentioned or remembered anyone negatively
3. She protected others' secrets
4. She accepted others' excuses
5. She always kept promises
6. She forgave others

We discussed each of them and came up with the conclusion that the best way to show your love for the Ahlul Bayt (family of the Prophet) is to follow the examples that they have left for us. Obviously there is no way we can ever be as generous or as forgiving as they were, but at least we can try.

Take number 5 - one way we can follow this through is if we are invited to someone's house or gathering (or even a sister's circle!) and we tell the host we are going to attend, then its mandatory on us to attend, otherwise we are not keeping our promise of attendance!

Anyone visiting Syria on a Wednesday is more than welcome to attend!

Story from our reading comprehension book

(Credit must go to The Husband for translating and typing this out!)

Imam Musa a-Kadhim [a] relates the following story:

The once was a man from the Bani Israel, he was a pious man. He had a wife who was also pious. One night the man had a dream where an angel came to him and said that Allah had ordained for him such and such amount of time for his life on earth. In addition Allah offered him that one half of his life would be with ease (wealth) and the other with difficulty (poverty). He was to choose which half he wanted the ease and which he half he wanted the poverty. The man told the angel that he had a wife who was his partner in life and he needed to consult her and that the angel could come back tomorrow night when he had consulted her. The following morning the man awoke and related to his wife what had transpired the previous night to which she replied: 'Choose the first half with ease and let us pray for a good ending (to our lives) perhaps Allah will have mercy upon us and bless with blessing throughout our lives.'. The following night the man saw the angel and he informed the angel of his decision to which the angel said you have requested it and so it will be.

The blessings of the world began to make their way to the man and his wife from all facets and they increased on a daily basis. The wife said to her husband that with these blessings he should assist those amongst his relatives and he should gift and assist those amongst his neighbours and brothers in faith. When the first half of his life passed by he saw in his dream the same angel whom he had seen previously. The angel said to the man: 'Allah appreciates (that you did 'husn u dhan' [thinking well of God] on him and that you made good use of your first half) you and therefore has ordained the second half of your life with with ease like the first half.

Homework for you all:
What lessons do you take from this story? and what Shariah points?
(we came up with a total of 13 in class!)