BismIllah wa as salaamu alaykum.
Subhaan Allah. I am aware that some people perceive me to be picky, over the top, extreme in my outlook and how I strive for things to be close to the Sunnah. Moreover, my quest for natural living, natural surroundings, materials, and foods is considered eccentric and an unnecessary hardship. For me, it is necessary and an enjoyable hardship. For me, it is a way of opening the door to Tawfeeq.
I read the post The Door of Tawfeeq has been closed on the People. It is translated from a work by Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyyah. An excerpt, which highlights the source of the reasons for the door being closed is below.
"And the origin of this stems from humiliation and ignobility and exchanging that which is superior for that which is mediocre.
If the individual was noble and ambitious he would not settle for mediocre. The source of every good is by the Tawfeeq (i.e. success) of Allah as well as by His will, the nobility of the soul, its magnanimity and exaltedness."
...."Thus the noble souls are not satisfied except with the finer things in life, those things that reap the most praiseworthy outcome."
So, for all who ask why I put so much effort into emulating as much of the Sunnah as possible, rather than just what is easy, that's the reason. I don't want to settle for average. I want to strive for the best. I believe that I will be questioned about every thing, so I want to be able to say that I tried to follow the best of ways... which are the ways of the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam).
salam alikoum sister, I am a companion on that journey, inchaallah, and I wanted to ask you if you could send me a list with recommend books about the detailed sunnah (beside the well known hadith-books like Muslim, al-Buchari, Tirmidhi and ANawawi)
ReplyDeletebarak Allahu feek
Wa alaykum as salaam wa Rahmat Allah wa Barakatuh my dear sister Itto.
ReplyDeleteI have found Minhaj Al-Muslim to be an excellent source of information about the Sunnah. It is like a handbook of manners and ways of the Prophet, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Certainly do look for the recent version, as it is clearly written and quite detailed. Another book that I found useful in learning more is The Medicine of the Prophet
I have found that not knowing Arabic to fluency has been a huge disadvantage. A friend told me that The Sealed Nectar, the most accepted and authentic rendition of the Prophet's life, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, has a large portion omitted in the English version. What I have done, however, is taken information from various sources and stuck to the major scholars of old. I have a collection of blogs that are done by students of knowledge, many of which provide translations of Silsilah al Saheehah and other hadith sources that open up the "picture" even further. I think that it would be best for me to do a separate post listing all the sources I take from. There are a couple of websites, www.madeenah.com and www.bakkah.net, that I have found excellent too, because they are basing their content on their classes in the Islamic Universities and delve into the ahadith seeking the truth of them, not what they would like, inshaa'Allah.
I have a group, Simply Sunnah Sisters, which is a growing collection of information about various aspects of the Sunnah and living it to the full. You can find an invitation to it here: http://maitotheextreme.blogspot.com/2009/08/simply-sunnah-sisters.html
All sources of information are quoted there. However, I am moving the group over to a different web host by July 20th, inshaa'Allah, so the members will be invited to the new "home" once it is all set up. Please do join...I feel sure you will love it.