Faris Jax

Why not name your son after the Habib of Allah, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? Wallahi, loving Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is itself among the greatest blessings. How fortunate are those who fill their lives with abundant salawat upon him.

On Yawm al-Qiyamah, imagine being among those whom Allah honours because of their love for His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Your salawat reached him in this world, and today you stand hoping for his intercession. How blessed is the one who spent his days sending salawat upon Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

And imagine your son standing before Allah. Allah asks him, "What is your name?" He replies, "Ahmad." Then Allah asks, "Why were you given this name?" He says, "My parents named me after one of the names of the Habib of Allah." What an honour that would be.

Subhan Allah. Today, people rush to name themselves after tribes, affiliations, and personalities, while neglecting the blessed names connected to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Some become attached to names associated with scholars while forgetting that the scholar's own given name may have been Ahmad. Yes I'm speaking about shaykh al Islam.

Wallahi, prioritize Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). I once saw a clip of Mujahideen saying, "We miss you, Ya Rasul Allah." There is a beauty, a sweetness, and a blessing in the names connected to the Habib of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

Allah Himself honoured him.

And among the most beloved Ahmads to use are:

Ahmad (peace and blessings be upon him)

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rahimahullah)

Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah)

May Allah fill our hearts with love for His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and allow us to honour him in our words, deeds, poems and even in the names we choose for our children.

"I saw Samra' bint Nahik, who had met the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). She was wearing a thick corset and veil, and she had a whip in her hand that she used to discipline people, enjoining good and forbidding evil."

Source: al-Mu'jam al-Kabir lil-Tabarānī 24/311, Grade: Jayyid

Imam Ibn 'Abdul Barr commented:

She knew the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) during her lifetime. She would patrol the markets by enjoining good and forbidding evil. She would discipline people with her whip.

“O my son, do not take as a role model one who does not fear Allah in private, does not refrain from faults and sins, and does not reform himself when old age comes upon him.”

1) Consistency in Salah

2) Answered prayers

3) Good health and well-being

4) Blessed provision (Rizq)

5) Success in endeavors

6) Love of solitude with Allah and righteous company

7) Strong memory

8) Mental clarity

9) Sharp understanding

10) Peace of heart

11) Plans facilitated by Allah

12) Ease in affairs

13) Emotional and mental strength

14) Expanded chest (tranquility)

15) Hope and optimism

16) Feeling of safety and protection

17) Love from people

18) Success in this life and the Hereafter

19) Lasting happiness

20) Good social relations

21) Soft and living heart

22) Tears from the fear and love of Allah

23) Concentration and humility in Salah

24) Love of reading the Qur'an

25) Ease during difficulties

26) Difficult tasks become easy

27) Sense of worth and purpose

28) Honour and dignity

29) Loyalty and trustworthy companions

30) Strength and vitality of the body

31) Light and radiance on the face

32) A blessed and pleasant life

33) Allah's support and guidance

34) Strong trust in Allah (Tawakkul)

35) Courage and confidence

36) Attachment to the Masjid

37) Protection from Shayateen and evil influences

38) High energy and motivation

39) Harmony with people and fewer disputes

40) Consistency in Adhkaar, Istighfaar, and Salawaat

1) Reduction in Salah

2) Unanswered prayers

3) Strange Health issues

4) No Provision

5) Back to Back Failures

6) Loneliness

7) Memory Loss

8) Brain Cloud

9) Weak Memory

10) No peace of heart

11) Plans not working

12) Every work get's stopped

13) Mentally drained

14) Heavy Chest

15) Hopelessness

16) Fear of Jinns

17) Enmity from people towards you

18) Unsuccessful

19) Sudden Sadness

20) Anti Social

21) Hardened Heart / Dead Heart

22) No tears

23) No concentration in salah

24) No reading of al- Quran

25) Unexpected Difficulty

26) Easy task becomes tough

27) Worthlessness

28) No dignity

29) Betrayals

30) Unhealthy body

31) Dark Face (not dark as in black)

32) Hardest Life Ever

33) Allah leaves you to yourselves.

34) Weak Trust

35) Unnecessary fear

36) Abandonment of Masjid

37) Easy attack for Shayateen and Jinns

38) Low energy

39) Mockery and quarrels

40) leaving adhkaar, istigfaar, salawaat

Aisha (radhiAllahu anha) reported: “One night, the Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him) related an [astonishing] story to his wives. One of his wives commented, ‘This story is as astonishing as the stories of Khurāfah.’ The Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him) said, ‘Do you know the original story of Khurāfah? He was a man from the tribe of ‘Udhrah, whom the Jinn kidnapped. They kept him for a long time, and then they returned him to the people. He began to relate the wonders and strange things that he saw during his stay with them. Thenceforth, the people began to call every story that was incredible or too much for the mind to handle, a story of Khurāfah

Al-Bajūrī said :

The purpose of the Prophet (peace be upon him) entertaining his wives at night was to make them happy and show them kindness

مناجاتي بالحزن مع الله وحده

My lament of sorrow is only with Allah alone

فكيف يمكن لمثل هذا الحزن أن يُقال إلى أيِّ أحدٍ على الإطلاق؟

Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) said about Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah):

“Ibn Taymiyyah, in the early part of his life, would sometimes go out into the desert seeking closeness to Allah and longing to meet Him, and he would recall the poet’s saying:

‘And I go out from among the houses, perhaps I may speak to myself about You in secret, alone.’”

"I long for something that cannot be. I long for a place in which there is no one from among the people."

'I found seclusion to be more comforting to my heart.'

The Praise of al-Dhahabī

Al-Dhahabī said:

"By Allah, in jurisprudence he reached the rank of al-Layth ibn Saʿd, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī. In asceticism and scrupulousness, he reached the rank of al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ and Ibrāhīm ibn Adham. In memorization, he reached the rank of Shuʿbah, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, and ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī. But the ignorant person does not know his own rank, so how can he know the rank of others?"

The Praise of al-Shāfiʿī

Ḥarmalah said:

"I heard Imām al-Shāfiʿī say:

'I left Baghdad, and I did not leave behind in it a man more virtuous, more knowledgeable, more understanding in religion, and more God-fearing than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.'"

And Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh said:

"Al-Shāfiʿī never saw anyone like Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal."

His Humility

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said:

"I never saw anyone like Aḥmad. We accompanied him for fifty years, yet he never boasted to us about any of the good that he possessed."

Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī said:

"I heard Abū ʿAbdillāh mention the qualities of the scrupulous people, then he said:

'I ask Allah not to despise us. Where are we compared to those people?'"

His Dislike of Fame

Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Hārūn said:

"I saw Abū ʿAbdillāh; whenever he walked in the street, he disliked that anyone should walk behind him."

Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Sarrāj narrated that he heard Fatḥ ibn Nūḥ say: I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say:

"I long for something that cannot be. I long for a place in which there is no one from among the people."

ʿAbd al-Malik al-Maimūnī said:

"Imām Aḥmad said: 'I found seclusion to be more comforting to my heart.'"

His Caution Regarding Dreams

When a man informed him that his mother had seen a dream promising him Paradise, Imām Aḥmad replied:

"My brother, people used to tell Sahl ibn Salāmah things like this, and he ended up shedding blood."

Then he said:

"A dream brings joy to the believer, but it should not deceive him."

His Simplicity

"I saw Abū ʿAbdillāh buying bread from the market and carrying it himself in a basket. I also saw him buying beans and wrapping them in a cloth, carrying them while holding the hand of his son ʿAbdullāh."

His Respect for al-Shāfiʿī

ʿAbdullāh, the son of Imām Aḥmad, said:

"My father mentioned Imām al-Shāfiʿī and said:

'He did not benefit from us more than we benefited from him.'"

His Noble Character

When some people told Imām Aḥmad that Abū Kurayb criticized him, he replied:

"Continue writing from him, for he is a righteous shaykh."

They said, "But he speaks against you!"

He replied:

"What can I do? A righteous shaykh has been afflicted with me."

The Love of the People for Him

Al-Muzanī narrated that al-Shāfiʿī said:

"Did you see that young man in Baghdad? Whenever he says, 'He narrated to us,' all the people say, 'He has spoken the truth.'"

I asked, "Who is he?"

He replied:

"Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal."

It was also said:

"Around five thousand people, or even more, would gather in the gatherings of Aḥmad. About five hundred would write, while the rest learned from him good manners and dignified conduct."

His Worship

ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad said:

"My father used to recite one-seventh of the Qur'an every day. He would sleep lightly after ʿIshāʾ, then rise and continue praying and supplicating until dawn."

1. The prayer of the Almighty King (Allah)

2. The intercession of the Chosen Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

3. Following the example of the righteous angels.

4. Opposing the hypocrites and disbelievers.

5. Erasing sins and burdens of wrongdoing.

6. Fulfillment of needs and desires.

7. Illumination of one's outward state and inner secrets.

8. Salvation from the punishment of the abode of Fire and ruin (Jahannam)

9. Entry into the abode of comfort and permanence (Jannah)

10. The greeting of peace from the Oft-Forgiving King (Allah)

Imam ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) said:

Knowledge and the happiness that comes from it are not inherited except through exerting one's utmost effort, sincere seeking, and sound intention.

The poet spoke well regarding this:

“Say to the one hoping for lofty ranks: Without striving, you have hoped for the impossible.”

Another said:

“Were it not for hardship, all people would become leaders; Generosity brings poverty, and courage is deadly.”

Noble qualities are tied to hardships, and happiness cannot be crossed to except over the bridge of hardship. Its distance cannot be traversed except in the ship of seriousness and diligence.

Muslim said in his Sahih:

“Yahya ibn Abi Kathir said: ‘Knowledge is not attained through bodily comfort.’”

And it has been said:

“Whoever seeks comfort abandons comfort.”

Had most people not been ignorant of the sweetness of this pleasure and the greatness of its worth, they would have fought over it with swords. But it has been surrounded by a veil of hardships, and they have been veiled from it by a veil of ignorance, so that Allah may single out with it whom He wills from among His servants. And Allah is the Possessor of immense bounty.

“Du‘ā’ (supplication) is of two types: Du‘ā’ al-‘Ibādah (supplication of worship) and Du‘ā’ al-Mas’alah (supplication of request).

As for Du‘ā’ al-‘Ibādah: it consists of words of praising, magnifying, and glorifying the Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, such as saying Lā ilāha illā Allah, Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh, Subḥān Allah, Al-ḥamdu lillāh, and the like. This is called Du‘ā’ al-‘Ibādah.

The second is Du‘ā’ al-Mas’alah, which is in the form of a request: ‘Forgive me,’ ‘Have mercy on me,’ ‘Do not cause my heart to deviate,’ ‘Do not take me to account,’ and the like. This is called Du‘ā’ al-Mas’alah.

Du‘ā’ al-‘Ibādah necessarily includes Du‘ā’ al-Mas’alah. The meaning is that the person is, in reality, asking, because he only says these words while seeking from Allah that which is sought, such as His pleasure, His pardon, admission into His Paradise, and similar things.”

“The human being will wish that he had sent something ahead for his life.”

And what is his life? Do you think he desires the life of this world? No, by Allah. The worldly life has ended and passed away. In reality, the worldly life is not truly life; rather, it is worries and hardships. Every moment of ease is followed by distress, every state of health is followed by illness, and every gathering is followed by separation.

Look at what has happened!

Where are the fathers? Where are the brothers? Where are the children? Where are the spouses?

Is this a life? Never!”

Hasan ibn Thabith (radhiAllahu anhu) said after the beloved (sallAllahu alayhi wassalam) passed away:

“Shall I remain in Madinah among them after you. How sorrowful my soul is! If only I had never been born" 🥀