Why Obama Can’t Help…

Got Debt? Dua to pay off debts:

 

Recite:

اللَّهُمَّ اكْفِنِي بِحَلَالِكَ عَنْ حَرَامِكَ وَأَغْنِنِي بِفَضْلِكَ عَمَّنْ سِوَاكْ

“O Allah, save me from haraam and make the halaal sufficient and by your boon/favour make me independent from others”.(Mishkat)

These words were spoken by Ali (R.A.) taught by Prophet Mohammad (SAW.) when a person expressed a shortfall in his wealth to Ali (R.A.) he said: “Shall I not show you what Prophet Mohammad (SAW) taught me, even if there is a debt equal to that of a huge mountain then Allah will pay it”. Ali (R.A.) then recited the above dua.(Tirmidhi)

Another dua for payment of debt

 

Abu Saeed Kudri (R.A.) narrates that once a person mentioned to Prophet Mohammad (SAW.) that he was concerned about his major debts. Prophet Mohammad (SAW.) replied “Shall I not show you those words by saying which Allah will remove your concern and pay your debts?” The person asked “What is it, O Messenger of Allah?” Prophet Mohammad (SAW.) told him to recite the following morning and evening:

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْهَمِّ وَالْحَزَنِ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْعَجْزِ وَالْكَسَلِ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْبُخْلِ وَالْجُبْنِ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ غَلَبَةِ الدَّيْنِ وَقَهْرِ الرِّجَالِ

“O Allah I seek refuge in You from worry and grief, I seek refuge in You from hopelessness and laziness, I seek refuge in You from miserliness and cowardice and I seek refuge in You from overwhelming debt and from the force of men”.

The person stated that he recited this dua and Allah removed all his worries and debts.(Abu Dawood) Sayed-ul-Istighfaar (The leader of the duas of forgiveness), Shudaat bin Auwais Aas (R.A.) narrates that Prophet Mohammad (SAW.) said that Sayed Istighfaar is: اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ خَلَقْتَنِي وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ وَأَنَا عَلَى عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ وَأَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ “O Allah, You are my Lord, there is none worthy of worship besides You, You have created me and I am Your servant, I am Your pact and promise, I seek refuge in You to the best of my ability from my evil sins. I testify to Your favours and to my sins, hence forgive me since there is no one else to forgive sins besides You”.(Mishkat) The person who recites this dua sincerely in the course of the day and night and dies will be among the people of Jannah. (Bukhari)

 It’s been a while since I last wrote.  A lot has changed, a lot has happend.  The purpose of this blog was never to chronicle my personal life but to have an avenue share what ive learned about the Islamic principles of economics and maybe even offer an alternative to our ever so ruthless economy that seems to be getting what it’s deserved for such a long time as it comes plummeting down.  So what now?  I had, I guess what you can call an “epiphany” last may when I had an interview with probably one of the largest so called, self claimed “Islamic” alternative to banking and finance.  After spending two days with the CEO, I came to realize that there is no such thing in the world today and that was probably the worst feeling since, not even going to go there…

So let’s be realistic for a minute though this might come off real pessimistic, but think about it.  The system is built on the basis of screwing over others to make money.  You take the money away from those that have it and those that don’t have it, well the only thing promised to them is debt neck high.  So basically…what the hell is the point?  What’s the point of any of this?  Why keep fighting?  Why not cash in on the piece of the action?  Why keep your life savings in a checking account when you can have free money just piling up while you sit around and watch it increase off the interest rates?

In his time of being the Caliph of the Ummah, Umar (ra) said:

“No one who has not gained knowledge of our religion may enter our markets; otherwise, they will fall into usury, whether they like it or not.” [Sharh Ihya 'Ulum al-Din Kitab al-Ilm]

 

You compare that with today’s state of mind, where interest has become accepted by the Muslims to where we don’t even care to know what Islam says or what its system purposes and how it could help our society.  Engulfed in this same interest that has crippled our so called “Muslim World” in the middle east with our so called “Muslim Leaders” are no more than puppets to the imperialists so they may as well still be in those countries enslaving them as they did not so long ago.  The severity of this kind of livnig is not understood and that’s clear because if it was, something would have been done by now.  The fact is that this is all too boring to want to care but think of it like this.  The consequences of unlawful spending and unlawful earnings may cause in our supplication not being accepted. Does this mean anything to us anymore?  Who says we have to start with aqeeda everytime we begin to offer Islamic classes.  If we don’t offer places, halaqas, classes , seminars etc on these more situational knowledge such as this are we not going to be held accountable? 

I don’t know what to do anymore.  Why isn’t more out there?  Am I the only one feeling like this? 

Focusing beyond Materialism

 

“We must discard notions that rewards come from human beings, that we can gain benefits and security from people, corporations, or governments.”
-Imam Jamil al-Amin

 

        In our society, we have specific tendencies in which we get caught up and eventually start to fall into the same issues that in our youth we spoke out against and/or protested against.  For example, as Muslim students on our campuses, we take every opportunity we get to protest against military recruiters.  Come graduation time, our spirits of changing the world still running strong until we realize the day after that we need to start the dreaded job search.  It is then, when we are tested in the most crucial time of our career to decide between our careers and our standards.  In times such as these, is when we are so tempted to throw away everything we’ve stood up, yelled for, and protested. 

        All of the sudden, a job with the defense company looks tempting because of the hardship in finding a secure employment.  We’re pretty secure that we will be bombing the hell out of people for a long time to come.  Are we going to give up on the struggle?  These times have brought down the most active members on campuses into the deepest pits of depression.  Alhamdulilah (praise be to God), Islam has an answer to everything in which we can have hope because our ultimate goal is the Akhira (the day of judgement), and we know that our time here is merely an illusion as well as series of tests by Allah to test our faith with actions.  Not only is struggle certain for a true believer but we are also prescribed with how to benefit from the struggle Inshallah (God willingly). 

Verily We have created man into toil and struggle. (Qur’an 90:4)

“What will insure success for the believers in this life and the next?” The Prophet (PBUH), in speaking to his compnanions, was reported to have said, ” Of the things that bring success, there are two, and it is taqwa Allah, wa husn-al-khuluq.  It is good deeds.  Again, success is based on God-consciousness and the ability to do good deeds.  It is essential to recognize that these two factors are indeed the main and major ingredients of success in any struggle.”
(Revolution by the Book; Imam Jamil Al-Amin)

       From this, we can conclude that to be successful in a struggle and to continue to strive without being overburdened or anxious, we need to have awareness as well as understanding of the material reality.  Spiritual consciousness is required.  Struggle is natural aspect of creation.  To be engaged in struggle is perfectly consistent with the will of God.  The ultimate reason to struggle is to obey the Creator.

        The struggle is inevitable, the hardest part is to continue to have strong faith throughout your struggle so you may become a better servant of Allah (God).  In doing so, the relationship with Allah (God) is the most important aspect.  Without this relationship, you are in the state of disbelief.  Without salaah (prayer), you are in the state of disbelief.  Regardless of the type of struggle, whether it is looking for a job during your unemployment period or trying to educate the mass majority in the principles of everyday practices which are laid out by Allah (God), one must hold on tight on his relationship with Allah (God) by establishing salaah daily.

“They can put us down and talk about us, saying ‘they don’t want to do anything but pray, they don’t want to developt the economic aspect of what Islam is.  We got to be about the money.  We got to develop this thing economically.  ‘They can talk all they want, but without prayer, there is nothing.  You are fooling yourself.  Without the Salaat, you are fooling yourself.”
(Revolution by the Book; Imam Jamil Al-Amin)

         Having gone through the reasons for the struggle we are constantly in as well as trying to strive to establish an unbreakable relationship with Allah (God), so that any struggle we go through is made easy for us to get through, how much are we willing to sacrifice?  How much are we willing to compromise in our times of need to selling out having the notion that a corporation, government or any other man made institution holds the key to your success?  First it’s the change of your Muslim name.  Then the beard or the hijab.  What’s next?  All the so called “liberal Muslims” or the “Progressive Muslims” hide your identity and don’t claim Islam because your just making hard for the rest of us.

In regards to businesses and struggling to having a successful business in a society where many unethical practices are carried as the norm, I conclude this blog with this quote:

“And, it is the mercy of Allah;  it is no more than the mercy of Allah.  there have been businesses before.  There have been Muslim businesses before, just as there have been Muslim communities before.  And, those who abandon the instructions and the guidance of Allah, they are ‘used to be’ tales of ancients.  They are tales that are told of something which was there before; something which no longer exists;  the ‘used to be’ people and are no longer around.”
(Revolution by the Book; Imam Jamil Al-Amin)

 

 

 

 

Purpose & Objective: Addressing Poverty, Riba (Interest) & Modern Economy

 

Being a first generation immigrant to this country, I had to make many adjustments and then make readjustments to what I was adjusted to.  I bought into a lot of what my parents would say in terms of America being the best country in the world and how much better it was than Pakistan.  Freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion and all the other false promises which seem promised to those looking from the outside.  Fifteen years in this country and I still feel like an outsider every time I go to a job interview because of my beard or when I happen to have a kufi on  as I walk into a  grocery store or the mall.

As I started my journey in college (2002), I had already begun the readjustment phase, where I knew that a lot of what I had been taught years prior about our country and our society at large were not true.  At this point I knew the United States wasn’t the best country in the world but I knew that they had the most powerful economy.  As I progessed my education, I came to learn that even the economy is coniving and backstabing just as the politics and/or the government and that politics and business go hand in hand. 

As I finished my college education, some things became apparent:

1. My education of life was just beggining (pretty cliche but yeah…)

2. My purpose of why Allah (swt) would want me to come to this country

3. Learn and educate myself and others about the Islamic Principles of Business, Economics, Banking and Finance.

 So although this blog is pretty unorthodox in that I won’t be talking about my frustrations of finding a halal job or how my annoying siblings won’t let me watch MTV but my purpose of this blog is to share what I’ve learned on the concepts mentioned in purpose number three.  Although the movement is based off of the politics and politicians, the main component that is often ignored or overlooked is how business and economics play a vital role in politics and why we as Muslims need to educate ourselves in our own systems so we can institutionalize , 6 million strong and growing, wanting to change the economy as main decision makers businesses or the consumers or both.  So as I practice my patriotical duties and use my freedom of speech, press and religion, inshallah (God willingly), I can educate myself as well as the reader on Islamic Economics and how we can eliminate poverty, riba (interest) to improve our modern economy.   We’re all pissed at corporations giving money to support Muslim killing, but what the heck are we doing about it?  Protesting?  Yes, that works but what are our businesses doing to combat that?  Do we have businesses?  What are the basic principles of Islamic economics?  Does it really have the answers to eliminating poverty?

 

Stay Tuned…

The Blu3 Pr1nt

 Every structure has a foundation.  Every foundation has a purpose or an objective.  Every purpose or an objective addresses an issue or a cause.  Implementation of an issue or a cause starts from within.  Change from within requires rebuilding the foundation.  Rebuilding of every foundation needs The Blu3 Pr1nt.