Return of the Truth

New Home

2008-02-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

AA,

I've officially switched to Wordpress. You can now visit me at szaharna.wordpress.com :)

:)
sz

Brotherhood

2007-05-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Oh you who believe! Be dutiful to Allah as you should be dutiful towards him, and die not except that you are in a state of total submission to Allah.

And hold tight together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided amongst yourselves! and remember Allah's favor upon you; for you were enemies and Allah brought your hearts together with love so that you became by his favor brethren; and you were on a brink of the pit of hell fire, but he saved you from it. Thus does Allah make his signs clear to you so that you may be guided.

Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones who will be successful!

Be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall into disputations after receiving Clear Signs: For them is a dreadful penalty.

On the Day when some faces will be (lit up with) white, and some faces will be (in the gloom of) black: To those whose faces will be black, (will be said): "Did ye reject Faith after accepting it? Taste then the penalty for rejecting Faith."

But those whose faces will be (lit with) white,- they will be in (the light of) Allah's mercy: therein to dwell (for ever).

These are the signs of Allah which We recite to you with truth, and Allah does not desire any injustice to His creatures.

Al-Imran 102 - 108

24/7 Muslim

2007-05-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

"There are among people some who serve Allah, as it were, on the verge: if good befalls them, they are, therewith, well content; but if a trial comes to them, they turn on their faces: they lose both this world and the Hereafter: that is loss for all to see!"

Al-Hajj, 11.

TONS of African Recitation!

2007-05-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ridwan found a bunch of African recitation online:

Fatiha

If you want more, click here and then download the any of those mp3 qura'an files at the top of the list.

Logic

2007-04-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

"If the Truth had been in accord with their desires, truly the heavens and the earth, and all beings therein would have been in confusion and corruption! Nay, We have sent them their admonition, but they turn away from their admonition." 23:71

Steve Nash

2007-04-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

Steve Nash has 18 assists with SIX minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

I don't want to say this but I think I am...

Steve Nash is more fun to watch then Michael Jordan...and even Chris Dudley.

Yes, I do mean it.

(Advance) فارتق

2007-04-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

This is one of those nasheeds I wish we understood better:

Fartaqi (Advance)

فارتق

فارتق في الخير و ارقى أفقا إنها العليـاء تبغي مسلما
أنت عنوان لأمجـاد الألـى فاهجر الأوحال و اصعد في السما
لن ترى يوما و نجمك آفل فارفع الرايات و امض قدما
أسرج القنديل و اشعل همة و اركب الأهوال مهما أظلما
فارتق في العزم دوما و كن شامة في الناس رمزا ملهــما
من يروم المجد يجري أدمعا تحت جنح الليل...ليلا معتما
أو يثير النقع في وجه العدا إن للجنات سحرا محكـما
فارتق في العزم دوما و كن شامة في الناس رمزا ملهما

Rough Translation:

Fartaqi (Advance)
Advance (Fartaqi)
Advance in goodness and rise to the horizon
Sublimity wanted from Muslims
You are the symbol of pearls and glories
Abandon the mud and rise to the sky
You will never see a night without a star
Run up the flags and go ahead
Light the lamp and be determined
Overcome the terrors however dark they are
Always advance by your firm will
Be a mole and symbol for people
Who seeks glory and sheds tears
Under the cover of dark night
Or raises dust in the enemy’s face
Heaven has perfect magic
Always advance by your firm will
And be like mole and inspirational symbol for people

Serious Dua'a Needed

2007-04-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Asalam u Alaikum,

If anyone reads this I would appreciate if you could make some serious dua'a for me. I have to make a bunch of very difficult (possibly life changing) decisions in the next week and your sincere dua'a would help of course.

In the meantime, listen to this AMAZING recitation for Hani Rif'aee. This is recorded from last years taraweeh. It is very different then his popular recordings online:

Why I Love Michael Moore

2007-04-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

This is a few months old now, but it never fails to make me laugh. Michael Moore might be the coolest guy alive today. If Michael Moore ran for president, would you vote for him? Anyway, check this out:

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
Dear Mr. President: Send Even MORE Troops (and you go, too!) ...from Michael Moore

Dear Mr. President,

Thanks for your address to the nation. It's good to know you still want to talk to us after how we behaved in November.

Listen, can I be frank? Sending in 20,000 more troops just ain't gonna do the job. That will only bring the troop level back up to what it was last year. And we were losing the war last year! We've already had over a million troops serve some time in Iraq since 2003. Another few thousand is simply not enough to find those weapons of mass destruction! Er, I mean... bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice! Um, scratch that. Try this -- BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE MIDDLE EAST! YES!!!

You've got to show some courage, dude! You've got to win this one! C'mon, you got Saddam! You hung 'im high! I loved watching the video of that -- just like the old wild west! The bad guy wore black! The hangmen were as crazy as the hangee! Lynch mobs rule!!!

Look, I have to admit I feel very sorry for the predicament you're in. As Ricky Bobby said, "If you're not first, you're last." And you being humiliated in front of the whole world does NONE of us Americans any good.

Sir, listen to me. You have to send in MILLIONS of troops to Iraq, not thousands! The only way to lick this thing now is to flood Iraq with millions of us! I know that you're out of combat-ready soldiers -- so you have to look elsewhere! The only way you are going to beat a nation of 27 million -- Iraq -- is to send in at least 28 million! Here's how it would work:

The first 27 million Americans go in and kill one Iraqi each. That will quickly take care of any insurgency. The other one million of us will stay and rebuild the country. Simple.

Now, I know you're saying, where will I find 28 million Americans to go to Iraq? Here are some suggestions:

1. More than 62,000,000 Americans voted for you in the last election (the one that took place a year and half into a war we already knew we were losing). I am confident that at least a third of them would want to put their body where their vote was and sign up to volunteer. I know many of these people and, while we may disagree politically, I know that they don't believe someone else should have to go and fight their fight for them -- while they hide here in America.

2. Start a "Kill an Iraqi" Meet-Up group in cities across the country. I know this idea is so early-21st century, but I once went to a Lou Dobbs Meet-Up and, I swear, some of the best ideas happen after the third mojito. I'm sure you'll get another five million or so enlistees from this effort.

3. Send over all members of the mainstream media. After all, they were your collaborators in bringing us this war -- and many of them are already trained from having been "embedded!" If that doesn't bring the total to 28 million, then draft all viewers of the FOX News channel.

Mr. Bush, do not give up! Now is not the time to pull your punch! Don't be a weenie by sending in a few over-tired troops. Get your people behind you and YOU lead them in like a true commander in chief! Leave no conservative behind! Full speed ahead!

We promise to write. Go get 'em W!

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

The Corporation

2007-04-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

The Corporation is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. It is actually available online, and it is legal!

Part 1
Part 2

African Recitation

2007-04-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

The Prophet (Pbuh) said, "ليس منا من لم يتغن بالقرآن", which means, "The one who does not sing with the qura'an (recite it in a melodious voice and with tajweed) is not from us."

Ofcourse, this does not mean that our sole purpose of listening to the qura'an, or reciting the qura'an is for the beautiful voice. The purpose of qura'an is guidance. But, it is from the mercy of Allah (swt) that we should recite the qura'an with nice voice so that our hearts can more easily be attached to the words of Allah.

The beauty of this "singing" is that every people/nation have a different kind of personality; a different kind of tone to their qura'an. For example, we find that in Saudi Arabia, the most common melody used is a very confident, powerful melody. This melody is known as Rast and is most commonly used by Qura'an like Saud Shuraim, Sudais, Ali Al-Hudhaifi and Adil Kalbani, to mention a few. In al-sham (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan) a 7azeen (sad) melody is what is most commonly used. Egyptian Reciters are good at mixing it up.

This is what makes the Egyptians the most famous, their ability to change their tone based on the meaning of the verses. The famous qura'a are really, really good at this, like Mohammed Jibreel and all the old school reciters. You feel it most when listening to a story, like surat yusuf or one of bani israeel's stories. He changes his tone to fit the part of the story.

Out of all these recitations, probably the most beautiful and the most hidden of these recitations is the African recitation, used in countries like Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia and so forth. It is an unbelievably soothing melody that makes you feel very calm. You can almost feel the simplicity of the Africans when you listen to this melody. Unfortunately, there are ZERO recordings online of this melody. I found something that is very similar though, alhamdulillah. This guy's name is Faisal Mohammed. I think he is somewhere here in the US or Canada but I don't know much more about him. Here are a couple recordings for him:

One
Two

HalalHaramBida'ahKufrShirk!

2007-04-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

This is why our ummah can be extremely retarded. Below is a poll on one of the largest Islamic media downloading websites. We don't have anything better to talk about apparently. blah.

Hani Al-Rifaee

2007-04-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite reciters is Hani Al-Rifaee. He leads salah at masjid al corniche in Jeddah. Alot of people don't like his style though because he has a very high pitch voice.

Anyway, here is one of his dua'as upon the complete of the qura'an. I wish they had these recordings in higher quality.

Click Here

Thoughts on Virginia Tech Shooting

2007-04-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

So some maniac who was probably sick of engineering grabbed a couple handguns and shot 31 people in the engineering school in Virginia Tech (click here to read more.

It is very sad that death must come near us so that we remember it. The prophet (pbuh) said, "أكثروا من ذكر هادم اللذات" which means "Remember often the destroyer of all pleasures." This is referring to death. It is something that we should voluntarily chose to remember, but it takes tragedies for us to contemplate upon our end.

Sheikh Sabir Abdul Hakam

2007-04-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Shiekh Ibrahim Al-Akhdar, A Syrian recitor who currently resides in Medinah and is considered the scholar of qura'an teachers in medinah, was asked who is the best reciter to listen to. He answered by saying that whoever brings your heart closer to Allah and makes you feel khushoo3 while listening to him is who you should listen to.

This person for me is Sheikh Sabir Abdul Hakam. He is the Imam of a masjid in 7ay il wurood in Riyadh. He is quite possibly the greatest reciter alive today that nobody knows about. I came to know of him through a couple of my friends who studied under him for a long time. They spoke so much of him and how great his recitation is that I really wanted to listen to him. I found some online files, and he really is outstanding, despite the poor quality of the audio files.

Last winter when I went to Riyadh, I searched for his masjid and went for salatul 3isha2. Between Adhan and Iqama I was making dua'a the whole time that he recites really nice verses. Alhamdulillah, he recited the last page from suratul zumar, and it was quite possibly the greatest recitation I have ever heard in my life. Masha'Allah.

Anyway, I just heard Suratul Zukhruf for him and it's pretty good for the quality. Here is a link:

http://quran.islamway.com/quran3/58/043.mp3

What Happens in the Facebook, Stays in the Facebook.

2007-04-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

And you thought the PATRIOT ACT was bad...

http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/

أناديكم (I call to you)

2007-04-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

This song gives me the chills every time I listen to it. The compilation of pictures is also really good. If I find the English lyrics I'll post them insha'Allah.

Back to Blogging

2007-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Asalam u Alaikum,

After uninstalling AIM, Google Talk and deactivating Facebook, I realized how much free time I have on my hands. So, God willing, I will be posting anything interesting that I find here on this blog. I don't think I will write too much stuff myself, but I'll see how that goes.

The name behind this blog "Return of the Truth" comes from a khutbah entitled عودة الحق, in which Shiekh Essam Tawfik basically speaks of the importance of returning to Allah (swt) in all aspects of our life. Only upon returning to the Creator, will Allah (swt) help His creation. I guess this blog will insha'Allah serve as a means to provide lectures, videos, recitations, articles, etc. that will help fulfill this purpose.

Please feel free to comment or e-mail me with any questions or suggestions you may have. I ask Allah (swt) that He accepts this from me.

Salam,
Sami