God has made you sovereign over your soul. Use your brain.

 If we followed the Sunnah of the Prophet, we would place ourselves in a good position regardless of what was going on around us including any fitnah with our teachers. 

There was a West African shaykh who would always give preference to his Mauritanian students. The other students were upset by this and asked their teacher “why do you give them preference?” He said “It is something I know about them”.

Some time passed and the day of Arafat came close. The shaykh told his followers "do not fast tomorrow on the day of Arafat." The following day, when the dat of Arafat came, he asked his followers who was fasting. The Mauritanians raised their hands. He said “didn’t I say not to fast?” They said “You did but the Prophet (peace be upon him) told us we should fast”. The shaykh looked to the others and said  “this is why I prefer them. They are not blind followers!”

Don’t be a blind follower. God has given you sovereignty – he has made you a sovereign individual. You cannot give that up for someone else. You have to hold on to that and not be a blind follower. You have to use your brain. Sufism is a science which can be grossly abused in the wrong hands. Traditionally unless you had studied Shariah you were not meant to go into the science of Tasawwuf. You had to know first the criteria and measure by which to judge things.

Imam Ghazalli said “Do not know the truth through men. Know men through the truth”

This whole matter should confirm the fact that it is about you and God. 

Not you and this shaykh or that shaykh.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Sacred Text Messages Podcast; "When the famous become infamous"

Salams & Gday Mates

 Asalamalaikum Warahmatullah, 

Its been a while. 7 years to be precise!

Subhannallah, life happened and also the internet took a different trajectory such that folks were not reading blogs so much.  Content sharing went to social media which meant so did I - be it about islamic quotes or personal things. I left this blog up in tact for archiving sake I suppose and also because I forgot the password (lets be honest lol). 

There have been a few times through the years that I wanted to post and revive, however the feeling was fleeting. There was a lot of emotion and memories associated with this blog - which I started when I was 15 years old! I am now 32! Subhannallah. 

Of recent, however, events have occurred which have in some ways rocked the very spiritual upbringing with which I grew up. 

I was reflecting back to simpler days, and realised that blogging beneficial Islamic reminders/lessons which I attended, collecting quotes and posting about them, sharing inspiring stories, was a way which I kept a check of myself and the content which I digested and shared. Simpler days. It was also a way which I was able to share reflections but not actually seek readership or likes. This blog was never about likes or how many people read it. It was always about sharing that which benefitted on my journey to Him. 

Well, I have talked a lot about a little and in other ways a little about a lot. 

So what changed of recent? Subhannallah.

There was a podcast I listened to a few days ago - Sacred Text Messages by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. In his podcast, he said something so profound that I needed to stop and transcribe it word for word. I felt compelled to put it on Under Cover Pearls , and by doing so, restart the sharing journey inshaAllah.... 

(Quote in the next post inshaAllah)