University of al Karaouine - جامعة القرويين‎

Long before Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard or any other university ever existed. The University of al Karaouine was founded in 859 located in Fes, Morocco

The al Karaouine institution is considered by the Guinness book the oldest continuously operating academic degree-granting university in the world.

Do you know who the founder is?

Fatima al Fihri, a Muslim woman from Tunis who decided to dedicate her life to building the University and Mosque once her parents had passed away.

The Life of This World - الحياة الدنيا

Elegance of the Hijab

Some of the Women’s rights activists try to show that the hijab is something that is derived from Islam and that it’s a symbol of oppression arrogance or suppression - what’s really sad is that some of these people are Muslim.

It was common in the West during the early 20^th century for women to wear a veil.

There are passages about the Hijab from the Holy Bible:

Corinthians (Chapter 11): “If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head”

Timothy 2:9 “I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes”

In Judaisim a famous ancient Rabbis saying," It is not like the daughters of Israel to walk out with heads uncovered" and "Cursed be the man who lets the hair of his wife be seen....a woman who exposes her hair for self-adornment brings poverty."

So this is proof that modesty and hijab isn’t something derived only from Islam but something instinctive.

Mother Teresa

It’s amazing to see some of the Muslim women of the Arabian Gulf who leave their countries going to Europe, US or elsewhere stop dressing modestly and also remove the hijab; at the same time there are Muslim women are who denied from wearing the Hijab – including one Islamic country that denied University admission to women who wear it – yet no one speaks.

So women of the Arabian Gulf or Muslim countries where it is permissible to wear the hijab should be blessed because no one tries to stop you but instead they support you.

My question to all those girls who wear tight revealing clothing or whatever falls under that category and I’m not a scholar so I’m not talking in terms of religion and I can’t judge because Allah (swt) is the only one who does, but my question is if the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was among us today, would you still wear that type of clothing?

Big thanks to all those Muslim women who wear the hijab proudly regardless of the problems they have encountered or still do, and also to those who wear the hijab even when their families, husbands do not support it.

Finally, this post is to my sister Laila, who recently decided to wear the hijab.

From Ahmad Al Shugairi's 'thoughts'.

Golden Words

"طلب العلم فريضة"

Seeking knowledge is compulsory

"أفشوا السلام بينكم"

Spread salam/peace among you

"لا تشق على خادمك"

Do not burden your servant

"خيركم خيركم لأهله"

The best of you is he who is the best with his family

"من كان له صبي فليتصاب له"

Honour your children, and enoble their character

"في كل ذات كبد رطبة أجر"

There is reward for saving anything which posseses life

- The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Wherever You Are - Sami Yusuf

One of my favourite Artists, Sami Yusuf released his new album last week

This is one of the songs - great lyrics

طالب العلم

بالعلم بل بالأدب ......... تنال أعلى الرتبِ

فعش حياة العلماء .........وقرا صنوف الكتبِ

ودم على تواضع .........لا تفتخر بالنسبِ

كفاك أن تخرج من ......دنيا الورى بالحسبِ

نعم نعم لكنني ........ من غير أم وأبِ

أهوى العلا وليس لي ...... مالا يقضي أربِ

من ياترى يضمني ........يمدني بنشبِ

مناي أن يكون لي.........شأن كشأن الكوكبِ

وأن أكون عالما ........فالعلم ميراث النبي

بالعلم بل بالأدب .......تنال أعلى رتبِ

فعش حياة العلماء .....وقرأ صنوف الكتبِ

للمنشد احمد بوخاطر

Where to find Happiness

Does true happiness in this world come from getting all that we wish from delicacies to entertainment, or is there a different understanding?

For most people, celebrities seem to be the happiest of people, why? They have money, fame, spouse, kids - let's take Elvis Presley as an example - he had it all, handsome, healthy, extremely rich, had all the women he wanted and got married to one of the most beautiful woman of that time.

Although he had all these enjoyments, do you know how this legend died? He was found dead in his bathroom from an excessive amount of drugs - and everyone who reads his biography knows that he didn't really live a happy life, he was full of sadness and depression.

Elvis Presley and alot of us look for happiness in the wrong places. A guy thinks that if he gets to know a specific girl, he'll be the happiest person ever, a businessman thinks that if he reaches a certain deal and gets alot of money then he will too be the happiest man. A girl believes thatif she got married to a particular guy, she'll be the happiest girl!

All of us look for this happiness at places outside of ourselves and at the surroundings, and everyone knows that if we've found what we were looking for, we then get this feeling of emptiness and start looking for another goal to fill this emptiness. All of the philosophers, scientists, prophets have agreed that true happiness is defined as an 'Inner Peace'. It's a reassurance, you feel it inside you, despite what's happening around you.

If we wanted to tell the difference between someone that is happy and someone that is unhappy then look at them during times they face difficulties - you'll find that when the happy person faces a disaster, he might get sad, an that's natural but it only lasts for a day or two and then he's back to normal. On the other hand an unhappy person, when he faces a disaster you'll find him getting depressed, taking drugs, smoking and he'll stay like that for a while , probably messing up his life because of what happened to him. This how you can tell who really has this inner peace and who lacks it.

In the Qu'ran we find that the word "Peace" and "Reasurrance" were found 31 times, whereas the word "Happiness" was only repeated twice in cases relating to heaven and afterlife. And also, we find that part of prayer we recite peace upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the righteous believers and we conclude the prayer with "Peace be upon you", so is the Islamic greeting "Assalamu Alaikum" which again means Peace be upon you. Therefore, we find that the main goal for us being Muslims is to find this inner peace within ourselves.

"Know that happiness in this world comes from releasing the world from your heart"

- Badi' al Ziman al Noorsi

(From Ahmed al Shugairi's 'thoughts')